Dream State
by infinite shadow
Summary: Sam is locked in a DreamState by a dark spirit. Can Dean get him out before it's too late? Rating due to some minor language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

Dream State

Chapter 1

By infinite shadow

Disclaimer: Nope I own absolutely nothing recognizable in the following story. But if I ever win the lottery…. As far as I know I created the motel and unrecognizable characters in my own twisted little mind. No money was made from this story, yada, yada, and I might even give the boys back when chapter four is finished. Maybe…

Author's notes: This was my first fan fiction that I wrote for Supernatural. It started in December and I'm still working on it. I'm not as happy with it as I was with Casualties, but I'm getting a little tired of looking at it and I swear the boys are getting antsy and want to move on.

There will be four chapters in the end and they are mostly written. Just tweaking them now. So share your thoughts about this, good, bad or evil.

Thanks to Lynxlan as always for her great betaing skills. Trust me when I say my unbated stories do not run smoothly. Also thanks to wingschipped for the read through as well.

Please review and let me know if I should continue….I hope you enjoy the story.

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The black Impala began to slip off the pavement and onto the gravel of the shoulder. The driver smoothly corrected the course of the car, then glanced sideways at his traveling companion. He let out a guarded sigh of relief that he hadn't been caught falling asleep at the wheel when just two days ago he'd given Sam hell about not paying attention while driving his car and missing their turn off.

"Maybe we should find a motel," Sam said quietly.

"Uh, yeah," Dean said glancing over at his brother as a vehicle passed them going the other direction lighting Sam's face. His eyes were closed and if he hadn't spoken Dean would have been sure that his brother was sleeping.

Dean rolled down his window and turned up the music hoping the cool air mixed with Metallica would keep him awake. Several miles down the road they finally came across a motel. Dean pulled in and killed the motor.

"Sam?" he asked in the darkness.

"I'm awake," came the quiet response. "You want me to check in?"

"Nah, I got it. Grab the bags," Dean said over the groan of the car door as he got out.

Sam watched his brother head towards the lobby then gave the building a once over. The motel looked like it had been here for over fifty years and even in the dark it was showing it's age. Paint was peeling from the wood, only a few of the lights for the motel sign were working and the pavement was cracked, littered with potholes.

Sam rubbed at his burning eyes. He was so tired and even Dean was showing signs of exhaustion. The last three incidents they had investigated had turned out to be nothing. They'd been driving all day trying to get to the next job, but a few roadblocks from the last summer storm had them way off course and in the middle of nowhere.

He slowly got out of the car and grabbed the bags out of the trunk. He paused with his hand resting on the open trunk door taking another good look at the motel as a shiver ran up his spine. Sam glanced up to check on Dean who was leaning on the counter talking up a pretty girl. He shook his head, lifted up the false bottom, grabbed salt and threw it into his bag. Locking the hidden compartment he glanced up in time to see Dean coming out of the motel as he closed the trunk.

"Got a date?" Sam asked when his brother was close enough to hear.

"Nope. Can you believe she turned me down?" Dean asked incredulously taking his bag from Sam.

Sam rolled his eyes as he followed his brother to their room for the night. He waited for Dean to fiddle with the key in the lock, ignoring the muttered curses and walked in behind him when the door finally opened. Dean threw his bag on the bed nearest the door as usual and pulled out the laptop. Sam touched the door handle to close it and yanked his hand back, hissing, as a chill sliced up his arm.

"Sam?" Dean said. "What is it?"

Sam looked away from his hand, to the door then over to Dean. "Nothing, just a shock."

"You sure?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam responded giving Dean a funny look as he closed the door.

"Then what's with the salt?" Dean asked pulling the cylindrical container out of his bag.

Sam looked at Dean's bag and his own then closed his eyes and mentally kicked himself. "I don't know. Just a feeling."

"Another "Shining" moment or just the general creepiness of the motel kinda feeling?" Dean asked as he twirled the cylindrical container in his hand.

"It's just an old creepy motel Dean, that's all," Sam said quietly.

"Fair enough," Dean said as he put the canister on the table between the beds and dropped the subject.

Sam settled himself on his bed with his back up against the headboard and closed his eyes.

Suddenly he was running through a wooded area. The only light was from the full moon peeking through the tree boughs, the only sound coming from the cracking of dry brush under his feet, and the pounding of his heart. Sickening fear filled him as he stumbled and fell through rotting wood landing hard on his side. He could hear Dean shouting his name from far way. Sam's eyes flew open and he looked wildly around the room panting hard.

"Sam?" Dean said a little quieter gripping his brother's shoulders tightly. "You with me?"

Sam nodded and swallowed hard trying to get his breath back.

"Nightmare?" Dean prompted.

Sam nodded again not knowing how else to explain it. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the headboard willing his heart to stop pounding. The almost painful, but reassuring, hands released his shoulders from their vice-like grip. Sam heard springs squeak slightly as his brother sat on the other bed.

"You want to talk about it?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged. "There's not much to tell. I was running through the woods and fell through a hole or something and hit the ground hard. Then I heard you yelling and I was back here," Sam said opening his eyes and looked over at Dean.

Dean nodded, "Well, Alice, you were mumbling something but I couldn't make it out."

"It was just another nightmare," Sam said trying to shrug off the dream and got off the bed. "I'm going to take a shower."

Sam grabbed his bag from where he'd left it on the floor and went into the bathroom. Putting the bag on the counter he got out what he needed and turned on the shower to let it warm up. He pulled off his shirt and frowned at his reflection in the mirror as he watched a dark bruise spread rapidly over his side and ribs. Then as suddenly as it appeared it was gone. He moved his hand over the unmarked skin where the bruise had just been. Sam shook his head slightly and turned away from his reflection.

He stepped into the shower sighing deeply as the water hit his skin and cascaded down his body. Turning his back to the shower head he let the spray hit his shoulders before leaning back to soak his hair.

This was the only place of refuge. The only place he had to go that was private where he could relax and not have to pretend to be fine. Closing his eyes he just stood there enjoying the sensation of the hot water on his tired body.

He'd lied to Jessica about his family, never finding the right time, way or reason to tell her about hunting. He was so afraid that if she had known who he really was she'd run screaming from the apartment they'd shared and never come back.

Seeing his mother for the first and last time in Lawrence was hard knowing that she had given up her lives just for him. His mother had died twice for him, once over his crib when he was six months old and then to save him from the poltergeist in the house in Lawrence.

Before returning home every time he closed his eyes to sleep he saw his beautiful Jess. It was never a picture of her laughing or smiling, or even a memory of something they'd enjoyed doing together. She was always on the ceiling, blood dripping from her slashed stomach with a shocked look on her face then bursting into flame and burning on the ceiling.

Returning to Kansas had changed that picture. Now he saw his Mom telling him she was sorry, bursting into flame and taking out the poltergeist in their old home.

He turned resting his hands on the wall under the shower head allowing the harsh needle like spray to hit his face. Taking a deep breath of the hot steam he willed himself to relax and blank out all thoughts. His eyes bolted open as he saw Jess on the ceiling bursting into flame. He felt sick inside because it was his fault she was gone.

His beautiful happy Jess was dead because of him. His own mother was dead because of him. The weight of their deaths was too much to bear. The tears that had been sitting just under the surface began to pour out as he lost some control. He let them fall letting the tears mix with the water.

When most of the tears were spent he pulled his head up away from the water, sure he'd heard someone calling his name. He poked his head around the shower curtain and listened. He didn't hear anything and if Dean was trying to kick him out he would have been pounding down the door.

Taking a deep breath he tried to shake off the melancholy feelings and finished up in the shower. He dried off, pulled on a pair of boxers then rubbed the steam off the mirror. Pulling his electric razor out of the bag, he turned it on and began to bring it up to his face. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the reflection in the mirror and took a step back in surprise.

"Jess?" he whispered leaning forward.

The girl in the mirror smiled back.

A pounding on the door broke his gaze from the mirror. He looked back at the mirror disappointed to see only himself looking back.

"Dude! You gonna be in there all night?" Dean yelled from the other side of the door.

"I'll be right out," Sam hollered back. He threw his razor back into the bag and opened the door allowing the steam to pour out.

"I hope you left me some hot water," Dean grumbled pushing past him and slamming the door.

Sam stared at the closed door for a moment before putting on a t-shirt. He saw the salt in his peripheral vision as he stretched out on his back and sighed heavily. Why did he have to be such a freak? Things had finally been normal in his life. He'd had a great girl he loved and was saving up for a ring. His life was going somewhere and he was going to go to a great law school. Then everything fell apart. At times he didn't know whether to laugh, scream or cry. Right now he didn't have the energy for any of it.

He glanced up at the white ceiling and stared at the yellow water marks. He wanted something normal, something substantial, a place he could call home. But all he had was an endless road with run down motels.

Sam shifted onto his side facing away from the bathroom. If his life had to be haunted why couldn't Jess haunt him? At least he could see her. Her beautiful smile could light up a room in a second. One look from her could change his dark brooding mood to a light happy one. She had been his everything. His heart ached with missing her and he'd give anything to have her back in his life. But more than anything he wished they'd never met. She'd be alive today if they hadn't.

She should be going to school with a bright future ahead of her. Instead she was lying in a grave with whatever could be recovered of her burnt body.

After six months the memory of Jess dead on their apartment ceiling was as fresh in his mind as the day it happened. The guilt rode heavy on his shoulders because he knew it was going to happen. He'd seen it in his nightmares and he'd left her to die, alone, never having any idea of what was out there. Never knowing what he'd done in his life before they'd met, before he'd escaped the family business. She was an innocent who should have never been touched by the evil in his life.

He turned over onto his stomach clutching at the pillows. Jess was gone and he couldn't just move on, he needed answers. He needed to know what killed her. But it was more than that. He needed to know why Jess had to die the same way his Mom had died. Why they both died on the ceiling above where he'd slept. Why didn't what ever it was come after him?

He needed answers and the one person who could provide them, or at least help light the way to them, could not be reached. He needed to speak to his Dad. After everything that had happened in the last six months he couldn't understand why all his Dad could do was send them text messages for jobs. He knew his Dad was never happy with him because he could never do as well as Dean did. His older brother seemed to take to all the hunting, fighting and scheming as if it were second nature to him. While he felt like he was swimming upstream in a raincoat.

Sam turned onto his back, pulled the covers around himself tightly as the room seemed to get colder. All he wanted was one night of sleep without the nightmares.

"Sam," a voice whispered.

His eyes bolted open. There she was, so close, at the end of his bed. More beautiful than he remembered.

"Jess? Jess baby, please don't leave this time," Sam quietly pleaded, his heart pounding so hard he was sure she could hear it.

"Sam I'm not going anywhere," the spirit promised.

"What are you doing here?" he asked not hearing the bathroom door open.

Dean scoffed. "Listen pal if you don't know what we're doing here then maybe it's time to throw in the towel," he said taking a step into the room only to find Sam staring at the blank motel wall. He was nodding at something Dean couldn't see.

"What are you looking at?" he asked stepping closer to the bed.

Sam's eyes never wavered from the vision. "Can't you see her? She's so beautiful."

"Who Sam? Who's here?" Dean asked.

"Jessica," he whispered her name almost reverently.

"Jessica," Dean repeated quietly, his eyes widening slightly. "No, she's not here. Sam look at me," he demanded pulling Sam's face towards his own hoping to break whatever connection was happening. "She can't be here, man. She's gone. Nothing you do will bring her back," he said gruffly.

Sam fought against Dean's grip then gave in looking at his brother. "Mom came back, maybe Jess could too," he said hope colouring his voice.

"Mom did come back, but that was different. Sam that was our home, she died there and there was a blood bond," he said reluctantly.

"Jess has a connection to me," Sam protested trying to look back to where she had stood.

Dean tightened his grip slightly. "Hey, Jess is gone and no matter how much it hurts she's not coming back. You need to focus all of that pain on the evil things we kill between here and finding Dad. Understand?" Dean said watching his brother fight back the tears.

"Yeah," he mumbled and looked away.

"Is this really Jess or part of those visions you've been having?" Dean asked letting go of Sam.

"I don't know," Sam said his body shaking slightly. "I wish I knew."

Dean watched him for a moment. "What's bouncing around in that head of yours little brother?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," he said quietly hoping his brother would drop it.

Dean bristled. "Sam you are not fine. You haven't been fine since we left Lawrence. We've been on the road for days, you've barely spoken to me and you're not sleeping again. Even when you look like you're sleeping in the car man I know you're awake," Dean said then sighed and softened his tone. "Whatever this is about you can tell me, you know that right? You need to talk about Mom, Dad, Jess, the job, anything we can talk about it."

Sam looked up at his brother. "I wish I knew what this was. It was so hard to see Mom back at the house, but for a moment it was so great to see her. I mean I've only really seen her in pictures and I actually got to talk to her before she, " Sam paused fighting back the emotions and looked down at the comforter.

"I miss Jess so much," he almost whispered and swallowed hard fighting for some control. He looked back up at his brother. "Dean this is different."

"Does this have anything to do with what you said to Missouri? That this was the beginning of something?" he asked.

"I don't know, maybe. That feeling has been getting more and more intense since we left home. It feels like something is sucking the life right out of me," Sam said.

"Look man, you need to try and sleep, ok?" Dean said then stopped at the look on Sam's face.

"Dean," Sam said as he shook his head looked away.

"Hey all I know is that this insomnia can't be good for you," Dean said over Sam's attempt at protesting. "At least try to get some sleep. Stop fighting it. Who knows, maybe after getting one night of decent sleep that feeling may go away a little."

"Really? Do you have any idea of what's in my head? Don't you know what I see when I close my eyes and try to sleep?" Sam asked harshly.

"No Sam I don't," he said quietly. "But if I had to guess I'd say Mom and Jess."

Sam looked away from Dean not able to meet his eyes.

Dean shook his head. "Their deaths were not your fault. No matter how much you're blaming yourself it is not your fault. Sammy you have to let this go before it eats you alive."

Sam nodded, not bothering to correct the nickname, gave up on the argument, and settled himself comfortably in his bed. He heard Dean move about the room for a while then get into bed. After a while he started snoring slightly, a sound Sam found a little annoying but comforting in his sleepless nights. He tossed and turned for a few hours before finally giving in and falling asleep.

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Sam became aware of standing on a grassy shoreline. He watched a light mist rise from the water which gave an eerie reflection in the moonlight as he tried to figure out where he was and how he got there. Sam heard cars passing a short distance behind him and he followed the sound up a short embankment.

He found himself across the street from the motel they'd checked into earlier that day but it looked much different. The paint wasn't peeling and all the letters in the sign were working. The motel looked new and had a warm welcoming feel.

The Impala was no where to be seen, but there was a 1946 Nash, 1940 La Fayette Slipstream, 1937 Hudson Custom Eight, and a 1946 MercurySam walked towards one and couldn't help but appreciate her beauty.

A car pulled off the road and parked a couple of stalls from where Sam was standing. The engine turned off as did the lights. Crickets filled the void as a flickering light appeared in the car slightly illuminating a young woman's face for a moment as she lit a cigarette.

Sam watched her for a moment waiting for her to get out of the car, but she didn't move from her seat behind the wheel. She stayed there smoking looking at the closed doors of the motel rooms. Sam approached the car slowly.

"Hello?" he said.

The woman in the car took no notice of him as she drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. She stilled when one of the doors opened and two silhouetted figures emerged.

"We can not keep doing this. Miranda will find out," a woman said.

"Victoria, sweetheart, let me worry about my wife. I'll look after everything. Soon we will be together and we won't have to hide our love from everyone. I just need a little more time. Everything will be all right. I promise," he said leaning in and kissing her passionately.

"That bitch," Miranda hissed.

Mist began to surround Sam as the motel and car disappeared from view. He reached out to where the car had been and felt nothing as his hand moved through the mist.

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Dean slowly sat up on the bed rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. He looked over at his brother still sleeping soundly on the other bed. Usually he heard Sam call out in his sleep from a nightmare just before he would be scared awake, but it looked like his little brother had finally slept through the night peacefully.

He got up and started the coffee not really looking forward to another long day of driving. Dean pulled some shirts out his bag curling up his nose at the first one. "I gotta talk Sam into doing some laundry," he muttered to himself putting on semi-clean clothing. Starting up the laptop he searched the morning headlines for the job they were heading to.

The media had named it the Sandman Disappearances. At every home that a young child had disappeared a lit candle in an old fashioned candle holder with a handle was left, with a night cap next to it. A light dusting of fine sand was found on the pillows. There was no sign of struggle or signs of forced entry on the homes. No security alarms or devices had gone off. It was as if the "Sandman" had appeared in the bedrooms and disappeared with the children leaving the candle holder, night cap and sand behind as if in exchange for them.

Dean swore softly to himself. Two more children disappeared overnight. A brother and a sister. This time it looked like there had been a struggle. A small splattering of blood had been found on the boy's bed and carpet. The girls room had a few knocked over items in it. The rest of the M.O. was the same.

He looked over at Sam torn between waking him so they could get back on the road or allowing him the much needed sleep he was getting. He decided two more hours and then he would wake Sam up.

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"I gotta wake up," Sam said to himself pinching his arm as hard as he could. Nothing changed. The mist began to thicken and Sam closed his eyes tight. "I'm going to wake up. I'm going to wake up right now."

Sam opened his eyes but was still stuck in the fog. "Dean! Dean wake me up!" he shouted.

"Sam?" a voice whispered in the grayness. "Stay with me."

"Who's there? Jess?" Sam asked fear chilling him slightly as he turned to look around himself but nothing but the fog could be seen.

The voice giggled from all around him. It continued to giggle, slowly getting louder and changing into a sinister cackle.

"Sammy, Sammy, Sammy. I'm your worst nightmare come to life," a deep female voice snarled velvety.

The voice sent a chill up his spine and Sam instinctively took a step back from it. He felt the ground give under his feet and he fell.

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Dean looked up a while later as Sam mumbled something in his sleep. He seemed to settle and Dean went back to the web page noting the time. 10:24 am. He looked back at his brother as his brow furrowed a little. If Sam had gotten any sleep he was the first one up, usually having woken from a nightmare. If he wasn't, he was usually awake shortly after Dean as he was a light sleeper.

Dean got up and poured himself a second cup of coffee. He sat on his bed facing Sam.

"Dean," Sam mumbled in his sleep.

Dean put his coffee down on the night stand and lightly tapped Sam's cheek. "Ok Sleeping Beauty time to wake up," he said, but Sam did not respond.

Dean smacked him a little harder, Sam kept right on sleeping. He touched his forehead, but it did not feel like the younger man had a fever.

"Ok. Joke's over Sammy. Wake up cause we have a long way to go today and we don't have time for this," Dean said sharply. His anxiety growing with every moment Sam stayed asleep.

"You're burning daylight dude. Time to get going," he said a little louder. Again Sam slept through his efforts. Dean yelled, shook him gently, then hard, but still Sam slept. He noticed that Sam was breathing heavy and felt for his pulse surprised to find it was racing.

Dean got up convinced that he wasn't going to be able to wake him and got on the laptop. He searched anything to do with dreaming and connections with spirits, and got negligible results.

He poured over his father's journal and found nothing he could use. Unable to sit any longer he paced in front of the two beds trying to come up with some kind of explanation for what was happening. Maybe he was in contact with Jess, maybe Sam was getting the flu. Maybe his exhaustion had caught up to him and he was finally getting such a good sleep that he was too deep to wake and would come out of it on his own. Maybe his consciousness had been taken by aliens. Dean shook himself slightly. "Too much X-Files," he said to himself.

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Sam landed hard on his chest causing a small cloud of dust to rise around him. Looking up from the ground he found himself in a similar wooded area from his previous nightmare. The light was less between the boughs of the surrounding trees and his breath gave off vapour in the coldness. The quiet exploded in his ears.

"Dean!" he shouted. "Dean wake me up!"

His heart began to pound as footsteps slowly approached from behind him. Scrambling to his feet he ran full out for a while until he finally stopping by a grouping of trees. He bent over slightly resting his palms on his thighs to regain his breath. Looking around he tried to get his bearings.

"Yo dude, I'm leaving in ten with or without you. Now come on let's go!" Dean's voice called out.

Sam looked around the area but couldn't see his brother anywhere but he did spot the motel in the distance. He took off towards it, but every step took him two steps farther away. Sam stopped and stared at where the motel had been.

"Right," he said panting and looking around him. "This is a dream. The rules are different. Think Sam, think."

"Giving up so soon?" A figure asked as it appeared a couple of feet away from him like a solid shadow.

"Who are you?" Sam asked. "What do you want from me?"

"All in due time young one. All in due time," the figure murmured.

Sam sucked in his breath as the dark figure was suddenly next to him with barely an inch between them.

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Every explanation Dean came up with, plausible or not, was rejected. He stopped mid pace and stared at the night stand.

"You knew something was here, didn't you Sam?" he said quietly staring at the container of salt on the night stand. Knowing it might be the only thing he could do to protect his brother he knelt down and took a quick look where the bed met the wall. Moving to the end of Sam's bed he reached under the mattresses to the frame and pulled it out from the wall by a couple of inches. The old wheels squealed as the bed moved along the carpet.

Dean checked on Sam slightly hopeful that the noise or movement would have woken him, but he still looked sound asleep.

"Hopefully this will do the trick," Dean said as he opened the container of salt. He began pouring salt on the floor next to Sam's bed and when he was half way done Sam started murmuring and moving around slightly in his sleep. Dean poured it out faster and completed the circle of salt around his brother's bed.

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"You don't need to know who I was. You were vulnerable to my presence and it's been so long since I got to play with warm flesh," the dark shadowy figure said as it raised it's hand.

Ice cold fear sliced through Sam as he realized he couldn't move and his breathing sped up a little. The figure touched his cheek slowly running the back of it's fingers from his chin up to his temple, then up to the side of his head gripping tightly. Pain sliced through his head and Sam closed his eyes as he tried to manage the pain. If the dark figure wasn't holding him up he would have fallen to his knees.

"So young, so much anger and fear. Yes," the darkness purred as it raised it's other hand grabbing onto the side of Sam's head.

"Stop," Sam pleaded against the building pain. He clenched his teeth and tried to move away from the spirit's hold.

The dark shadowy figure began tighten it's hold on Sam's head. "Yes, oh my yes. Little Sammy has been through so much pain, and fresh pain too. Beloved Jessica," it murmured.

"Don't! Don't you say her name. You leave her alone," Sam gritted out.

The darkness laughed. "Beloved Jessica died above you just like your Mommy. Poor, poor Sammy."

"No!" Sam said and suddenly he was able to move his hands a little. He couldn't reach the spirit that held him but he could move them a few inches.

"Ohhh. Not so happy with Daddy either," it murmured as it's grip tightened causing fresh pain to slice through Sam's head.

"Stop," Sam screamed and the figure was gone. He fell to his knees cradling his head as the mist surrounded him once again.

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Sam screamed as his body jerked in the bed and his arms flailed up and covered his face.

"Sam?" Dean said quietly as he dropped the salt container.

Dean moved closer to his brother careful not to disturb the salt. He pulled Sam's arms away from his head, seeing the pained expression on his little brother's face slowly go away as he relaxed in sleep. Dean pulled the covers back up around him.

Dean grabbed his phone off the table and dialled a number. He waited for the message to finish. "Dad? It's Dean. I… I…" Dean paused cleared his throat and turned away from Sam.

"Dad something's wrong with Sam. We're stuck in the middle of nowhere staying at The Forest Road Motel. He's been having these nightmares since I got him from school. But this is different. He went to sleep last night and now I can't wake him," Dean said trying to keep his voice steady not wanting to show how afraid he was for his brother to his Dad. He could not show that weakness.

"He's mumbling stuff I can't make out. I need your help Dad because I don't know how to help him," Dean said then stopped as he ran out of time on the voicemail.

He stood there for a moment listening to the dead line, pulled the phone away from his ear and looked down at the display. Frustration coursed through him as he fought the overwhelming urge to throw the phone at the wall. Once, just once, he wished his father would just pick up his phone. Sam was in danger and at this moment in time Dean didn't give a damn about the bad blood between his Dad and his brother. Right now they needed him and as usual he was unavailable.

Slowly he closed his phone and went back to the computer slamming the offensive communication device down on the table. He grabbed the EMF reader out of his bag and put one headphone in his ear leaving one ear open to hear his brother if he got into distress again.

He surfed for hours researching stories around the motel, or anything about the motel but there wasn't anything that he could remotely connect to Sam's condition. He closed the laptop and rubbed at his tired eyes trying to figure out what he was missing, the link that would help him bring his little brother back to him.

Grabbing his cell phone again he called Joshua, Caleb and Father Jim. Aside for Father Jim offering a prayer for his brother they didn't know how to help him either. He sat down wearily beside his brother and looked up at the time. His brother had been asleep for fifteen hours and wasn't showing any signs of waking any time soon.

A knock at the door pulled Dean away from his thoughts and he stared at the door stupidly.

"Maid Service," a voice said through the door.

Dean went over to it and opened it a crack. "No, that's ok. Room's fine," he said to the woman then closed the door. He called the front desk, kept the room for another day and sat on the bed opposite his brother.

"Sam I don't know if you can hear me in there. I don't know how to help you, but I'm here and I'm not going anywhere until I figure this out. All you have to do is wake up, ok geek?" he said as a thought occurred to him. "Maybe you need to follow my voice or something to be able to find your way back. OK. God knows I can talk for hours."

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"Sam," a voice whispered. "Help me."

"Go away," Sam said still holding his pounding head in his hands.

"Please help me," she repeated.

Sam cautiously raised his head and his heart almost stopped when he saw her standing before him. "You're not her. Your not my Jess," he said quietly his voice breaking over her name.

"You are right," the spirit in white said. "My name is Victoria. I wanted to present myself as someone you trusted because I need your help."

The pain reached a bearable level and Sam slowly struggled to his feet. He didn't know what hurt more, the residual pain in his head or the ache in his heart knowing that this spirit in front of him was not his Jessica. "If I help you will you release me and let me wake up?"

"I am not keeping you asleep. It is the dark one that keeps you here, just like it keeps me. If I show you where I died maybe you could find a way to free us."

Sam was quiet for a moment as he considered his options. The pain in his head lessened as he thought about his current predicament. He knew that time spent in a dream moved much faster, but was this all really just a dream? A normal dream allowed the person to wake at any point during the event. No matter what he had tried he wouldn't wake up from this nightmare. Sighing heavily he could not see any options available to him other than what the spirit in Jessica's form was asking him to do. Maybe something would come up along the way.

"Yeah, ok. Show me."

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Dean was silent as he stared down at his hands collecting his throughts. It was true he could talk for hours upon end about nothing to total strangers or any of his Dad's contacts. But this was different. This was Sam, his little brother who he was supposed to protect. Part of him wanted to spring into action, kill the evil son of a bitch that was hurting him and take away the pain he was going through. He desperately wanted the kid to wake up and tell him to shut up jerk, but he just lay there locked in slumber.

Taking a deep breath to steady his shaky nerves he started to talk.

"Speaking of geeky, I remember your first girlfriend. What was her name again?" Dean said looking up from his hands to his brother's face and grinning slightly. "Amanda? Yeah that was it. She insisted on being called Andy. She didn't like it when I pointed out that Andy was, of course, a guy's name."

Dean laughed slightly at the memory. "She insisted that Andy was her name so I insisted on calling her dude for your entire relationship. Man you should have seen your face, in fact I could have sworn a couple of times steam was coming out of your ears like some freakin' cartoon character. You hated that I did that, not that I did that for long. Other than the name thing she was a nice girl, I wish we didn't have to move so soon after you two started dating. You know she was the only one I didn't mind playing chauffeur to when Dad let you date at fifteen."

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Sam followed the spirit in Jessica's image through the woods. Somehow walking with her made the place less scary and not so intimidating. He and the real Jessica had gone hiking a few times while at school. They were always home at the end of the day as they both hated camping.

"So why are you stuck here?" Sam asked.

"I was killed here and the darkness followed soon after. I've been running from it ever since," she said softly.

"The dark figure you saved me from?" Sam asked.

"Yes, but I did not save you from it. Something must have threatened it's hold on you right at that moment. I cannot protect you from it, as I cannot protect myself. I have learned to hide to stay out of it's angry path," she said.

Sam nodded. "Do you remember what happened, who or what caused your death?"

"I was killed near here out of jealousy," she said sadly.

"I'm sorry," Sam murmured.

"Yes, so was I," Jess said as she stopped walking and looked at him. "Why do you want to know what happened?"

"It might help me figure out the way to free you," he said trying not to look at her.

The spirit was quiet for a moment. "All right Sam Winchester I shall show you what happened," she said suddenly right in front of him and touching his head making Sam flinch and tense up. "You will feel some discomfort but I will not hurt you like the darkness did."

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Dean sighed slightly and got up from his chair and went to the coffee maker. Pouring a fresh cup of coffee he retook his seat on his bed. He took a sip of his coffee trying to think of what else to talk about. All he could think about was what if this didn't work, what if he lost his little brother to this… this… Dean shook his head. He didn't even know what this was that had Sam.

Dean was a man of action, not the one who was good with words. Sure he could charm the ladies when he wanted to, he could talk circles around anyone when he needed something, but this was different. He felt the serious urge to kill something evil, whatever was hurting his brother would do just fine. He'd kill it ten ways from Sunday when he figured out what it was and he'd enjoy every last second of it too. For the moment he settled for clearing his throat.

"Do you remember when you were nine? You were so frustrated at being left in the motel room when Dad and I went off to hunt. You were so eager to join in the hunt, and Dad said no when you asked him. You were jealous when you figured out that by the time I was eight I was helping him with the research and cleaning weapons. So I got Dad to agree to teach you how to clean the arsenal," Dean paused and snickered slightly. "I so hated that chore of cleaning the guns and the knives and then having to do the laundry. I was actually relieved that I had a little less to do.

Dean sobered sharply. "That is until you almost shot yourself while cleaning my gun, then I taught you how to do laundry. Yes that's right. In the Winchester household you learn how to clean and load munitions before you learn how to separate your whites from your colours," Dean said as he shook his head and took another sip of coffee. "I almost had a heart attack that day. It was the first time that I specifically put you into danger, unintentionally. You could've died and it would've been my fault.

"What you don't know is later that night I stayed up after you went to sleep. Dad was ready to agree to take you hunting with us. But I talked him out of it. I almost lost you that day and I wasn't ready for you to have to handle all the darkness that went along with hunting," he said quietly. "I think that night scared Dad too cause he outlasted you for quite some time when you whined, begged and pleaded to be allowed to come with us. When he finally caved I let you down in the field.

"We were thinking it was a werewolf cause of the lunar cycle. But it turned out to be the first known Berserker in North America," Dean paused and shook his head sighing heavily. "I thought I'd lost everything in that one night. By the time that night was over I never wanted to hunt again. I didn't think you were ready to hunt, you were too young, too naive to know the danger of what was out there. But there was no talking Dad out of it and you were so excited that you were old enough to join us. Twelve years old with so much innocence in you that I never had."

Dean paused with a far away look in his eyes. "I wanted you to keep that innocence. Mine was gone when I was four and Mom was killed. But even after all the research you had done for us, all the training you learned and first aid you had performed on Dad and I you were still so innocent. In all the ways that mattered. You still believed that some of the world was good and I wanted you to keep that belief. But you begged Dad to let you come along, and even though Dad had his doubts he let you come. It's not that he didn't trust your abilities, not at all. You had all the skills pretty much mastered. I think he too wanted to keep some of that innocence in you which is why he never pushed you to come with us, just pushed you to research. That we agreed on.

"He was scared that night Sammy. You were always the youngest, the baby of the family. Dad was afraid that something would go wrong and you'd get hurt. It was the first time ever that he'd given me an address to go to if we needed help and he wasn't able to get it for us. After all the hunts we'd been on he'd never done that just for me," Dean said then looked back at his baby brother. "You know I didn't mind? I was relieved there was somewhere for us to go if things went bad and I couldn't handle it. It didn't even occur to me to be upset that he'd never done that just for me. I guess I just thought he believed I could handle whatever came my way on my own before that."

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A flash of brightness encompassed Sam and he was standing by a car waving watching another drive away and out of sight. He heard a noise and turned coming face to face with a woman with a knife in her hand. The woman stepped forward pinning him against the car.

"He does not belong to you Victoria, he belongs to me," she snarled at him holding up her hand showing a wedding ring that reflected the motel light. "You will pay for what you have done," she said as she slowly raised the knife.

"No Miranda, you don't understand."

A semi drove past the motel startling the woman with the knife. Sam pushed her back and ran past the motel into the woods. The other woman following close behind. He was not a fast runner in the memory and the other woman closed the gap a few moments after they ran into the woods. He screamed as the knife sliced painfully down his back and he fell.

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Suddenly Sam arched up off the bed violently screaming and thrashed around flipping onto his stomach. The sheets pulled back a bit as Dean leapt to his feet.

"Sammy?" he cried his eyes widening in horror as he saw dark crimson liquid soaking into the sheets. He yanked the wet sheets back all the way and saw Sam's t-shirt ripped and swimming in blood. Pulling back the ruined material he saw a deep gash beside Sam's spine gushing blood down his back pooling by his sides. Dean ran into the bathroom for towels to stop the bleeding, but when he returned the blood was gone and the sheets showed no signs of it ever being there. He reached out a shaking hand touching his brother's back just to be sure Sam was fine.

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Sam was pulled onto his back by the knife wielding woman. The pain from his wound intensified as small rocks and other things from the forest floor were ground into it. She knelt over him holding the bloody knife to his throat.

"This is so much better. No chance of witnesses," she said quietly.

Sam grabbed the hand with the knife wincing as it broke the skin. They struggled and he managed to buck her off making Miranda hit her head on a tree stump stunning her momentarily. He scrambled to his feet and ran further into the woods. Suddenly the ground gave way beneath him and he fell down a dark hole hitting the ground hard on some sharp rocks. He heard snapping sounds and knew that he had broken a rib or two. He let out a pain filled groan.

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Dean's knees threatened to give way at the sudden change in his little brother. Sitting down beside Sam he dropped the towels on the floor beside the bed. He took a deep breath pushing away the fear and panic that had his heart racing and his body shaking. Sam groaned and curled a little on his side towards Dean as his whole body seemed to flinch.

Dean looked down over his brother. "Sammy? Can you hear me in there?" He asked softly.

He didn't get a response, but he really wasn't expecting one. Taking notice of his brother's current uncomfortable position he gently moved his brother on to his back, knowing it was how he usually slept.

Dean brushed the long hair out of Sam's eyes and smiled slightly. "Well now's my chance. You know I keep telling you that long hair is for girls and that you should get your hair cut. I still have those shears in the trunk of the Impala. Maybe I should give you a trim while the getting's good, huh?"

Dean sighed quietly and ran his hand through his brothers hair again. He wasn't sure if he was doing it to calm his little brother or himself. "When you were little you used to like it when I did this. Always had a calming effect on you, especially after one of your nightmares."

He pulled his hand back and let it rest on his brother's arm. Hoping that the contact would let his brother know wherever he was that his older brother was still there keeping vigil. Dean didn't move from his brother's side for quite some time.

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Jessica appeared beside him. "I lay here in the dark for the rest of that night and the next day alone knowing that I was dying. The next day she appeared with the body of her dead husband, my lover. She dropped him down here and eventually I died but I could never leave. Later the other spirit, the dark one, appeared and it continues to chase me."

"Yes and you always return here," the dark one hissed at her disgusted.

Jessica raised her hands and the darkness moved back a bit as if it had been physically struck. It came forward at Jess and encompassed her. There were screams of pain and howls of anger from both entities. They suddenly disappeared.

Sam struggled to his feet. "I gotta get some control here," he muttered to himself. He listened hard for his brother, concentrating on the motel room and what it looked like. He thought about Dean working on the laptop searching out their jobs. Hoping that somehow thinking about his older brother would lead his wandering consciousness back to his body.

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"We never really talked about what happened after Mom died. We only ever talked about what killed her," Dean said his voice wavering. He cleared his throat.

"Dad was a mess, but he took good care of us. I didn't want to talk much. Well, not like Lucas, I'd answer dad when he asked me questions. Usually one word answers. He'd try to get me to play catch or play with some toys. You'd never had known to look at him when he was with us that he was missing Mom too," Dean stopped for a moment.

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The brightness surrounded him and he could hear Dean talking. As he listened he realized there was a slight waiver in Dean's voice every so often. His brother was scared. The thought unnerved Sam slightly. Dean hardly ever revealed the chinks in is armour, he was almost always a guarded brick wall. He was no Superman, but aside from his father, Dean was the strongest person he knew.

Sam realized that he had no idea how long he'd been asleep or even if Dean could wake him. Could not waking up scare Dean that much? Sam closed his eyes, decided which direction his brother's voice was coming from and started following it in the brightness.

Eventually trees and vegetation beginning to show through the brightness. He thought he could just make out the motel in the far distance.

"Come on man keep talking," he murmured.

"Please don't leave me," Jessica pleaded appearing in front of him.

"I can't help you from here. I need to wake up and find your grave so I can release your spirit," he said quietly.

The spirit lingered for a moment tears slowly making their way down her face. He wanted to gently wipe them away and hold her in his arms until her pain went away. The small sane piece of his brain kicked in like a broken record - Not my Jess. Not my Jess.

"I can help you reach your brother," she said reaching out and touching his arm.

A moment later he was standing outside the motel. The white spirit was gone. He could hear Dean talking inside.

Sam reached out for the door handle and watched his hand move through the metal. "Right. Dream rules."

He closed his eyes and took a large step through the door. Sam opened one eye slightly making sure he was in the room then opened both eyes fully. Looking around he saw the laptop on a web page about dreams and their Dad's journal was open with the E.M.F. reader beside it.

Sam watched as Dean drained the last of his coffee and put the cup on the nightstand. He went over to where Dean sat.

"Dean I'm here," he said but his brother didn't hear him. "Dean," Sam shouted hoping his sleeping body would react somehow, but his face didn't even flicker in sleep.

Sam couldn't help but look at himself while he slept for a second before he was a little freaked out. He reached out to grab Dean's shoulder but his hand went right through his brother. "This is too weird," he muttered looking at his hand. He sat on the floor facing Dean listening to him talk.

"You know after you were born Mom never kept me away. She was so cool. I wish you'd had the chance to know her. She said that I was responsible for you too. If something ever happened to her or Dad it would be up to me to watch over you and protect you. She showed me how to hold you properly and how to feed you," Dean paused again clearing his throat.

"The night she, she died Dad grabbed you out of your crib and gave you to me. We got outside and spent several hours sitting on the hood of the car. I kept expecting Mom to walk out of the house," Dean stopped swallowing hard.

"When the fire was out Dad left you with me and this lame cop and went to speak to some of the firemen and officers that were there. When he was done he took you from me and said we were leaving. He started to put you into the car seat and I headed back for the house 'cause there was no way we were going to leave Mom behind with the burnt house. I stopped when they came out with this long black bag," Dean stopped his face drawn and pale. He shook himself taking a deep breath and sat up.

"Dad picked me up and I tried to fight him. I had to get back into the house to get Mom. He just held me real tight until I stopped squirming and he whispered 'She's gone Dean'. I didn't understand where she could have gone. I could see you in the car seat a few steps away asleep in your car seat. I was so tired that I put my head down on his shoulder. I remember feeling safe for the first time that night." He stopped and wiped at his eyes looking annoyed with himself.

"All I could figure was that something took her from your room and you might have been next. Dad got us a motel room that night and I wouldn't let go of him. I slept curled up against him while he watched TV. The next day he found us this small apartment that we stayed in for a while. You and I were in the same room and I was scared that the place would burn too. The first night we were there I couldn't sleep so I got up to find Dad. He was asleep in front of the TV with an empty bottle in his lap. At that moment I remembered what Mom had said to me about watching over you and protecting you. I went back to our room, jumping at every noise, and watched you sleep. After a while I could hardly keep my eyes open. So I climbed into the crib with you and put an arm around you. Figured that would be enough to protect you while I slept. I did that for a long time," Dean yawned and sniffed a little. "Man you gotta wake up Sam."

Sam watched as Dean fought off sleep. His dead dipped up and down and finally stayed down as he lost the battle. Sam looked down at his own sleeping body trying to figure out how to get back. He did the only logical thing he could come up with and laid down on the bed into his sleeping body. A few moments later he sat back up and stepped away from the bed.

Suddenly the darkness was in front of him. "So predictable," it tisked at him reaching out.

"NO!" A voice yelled just outside of Sam's vision. He tensed as he realized it was Jessica's voice.

Sam flew back and hit the wall hard, a few feet off the floor pinned there by the darkness.

"You," seethed the darkness as it's form began to change into a woman's figure.

"That's right," Jessica said as she began to change as well. Both spirits were now in their original form.

"Victoria you were always predictable," the darkness said and held out her arm. Victoria screamed in pain.

"Don't hurt her," Sam yelled.

Miranda smiled back at him increasing the pressure on Sam making it harder to breath. He could hear himself begin to wheeze in the bed.

The darkness turned her attention back to Victoria. "I will deal with you later," she snarled and Victoria was gone.

"Where'd she go?" Sam managed to rasp out.

"Far away. We need a little one on one time pet," she purred at him stepping closer.

She let up on the pressure and Sam fell to the floor. Before he could get to his feet she threw him against the other wall slamming him hard, then up to the ceiling. "Like the view from up there, I'm sure your mother and Jessica enjoyed it as well."

The spirit let go and let him fall allowing him to struggle to his knees and wrapped her hands around his head. Sam screamed as his head felt like it was assaulted by millions of tiny pins. His body in the bed let out a scream as well and Dean was on his feet almost before he woke up.

"Sam!"

The darkness purred in pleasure. "So good, so much anger in one so young over mother, father and beloved."

The spirit backed away from Sam letting him fall back to the floor cradling his head.

Sam could hear Dean trying to wake him in the background. "Dean wake me up," he moaned. "Please Dean."

The spirit was quiet as it changed it's form from it's original state to Mary's form. It raised it's hands and suddenly Sam flew backwards slamming hard into the motel wall.

The room around Sam changed into the Winchester home. He was back in the kitchen held up against the cupboards just like when the poltergeist held him there.

"Sam," Mary said.

He swallowed. "You aren't her," he whispered.

"Of course I am," she said shaking her head. "You were the smart one Sam. Dean would follow his delusional father to the end of the world and back. But you got out, you had a chance at a real life, you had a future. I was so proud of you when you accepted that scholarship to university. Then you threw it all away in one night. You're just as disappointing as Dean."

She stepped away from him then turned, looked up at the ceiling and back at Sam. "I died for you twice Sammy. Once above your crib and once to save you from the poltergeist. I did this to protect you and you're still hunting. I am not strong enough to save you any more," she said looking up towards the ceiling again and screamed as she exploded into a thousand little pieces.

"No!" Sam screamed.

The room shimmered and disappeared. Sam found himself standing on an empty lane of highway beside the Impala. No cars or people could be seen. It was just him and Dean. His brother was leaning up against the driver's side door, his hands jammed in his pockets of his leather jacket.

"I knew you weren't able to handle this. I don't know what I was thinking coming to you of all people for help," Dean said his anger simmering just below the surface.

"Do you even care that Mom died protecting you? Dad spent years protecting us and giving us the tools to be safe and protect others," Dean said quietly looking down the road away from Sam squinting in the sun.

He looked back pinning Sam with an angry stare. "All little Sammy can do is think of himself. You did nothing but bitch when Dad was training us. Then you took off to university. Now you come along with me reluctantly sulking about Jess and moaning about finding Dad."

Sam shook his head. "You're not real. Dean wouldn't talk to me like this."

"Open your eyes freak show. I'm not one of your weirdo visions!" Dean yelled then stopped himself. "You know Dad was right about you. You are nothing but a spoiled disappointing screw-up."

Dean reached into the car and threw Sam's bag at him. "I am so done with you. Stop looking for Dad he doesn't want you either."

Dean got into the car and Sam rushed up to the driver's side door. "No! Dean wait!"

Dean gunned the motor and peeled away leaving Sam coughing in the dust.

The image shimmered again and Sam looked around himself as the empty highway disappeared and was replaced with a wide open area. He was standing on grass and it was sunny and warm. Birds were chirping and playing in the trees. The breeze caressed his skin and moved through his hair. Sam closed his eyes and took refuge in the sensation for a moment. He opened his eyes seeing the headstones for the first time and knew where he was.

He walked on the manicured lawn approaching a figure dressed in white sitting in front of a tombstone. Sam did not want to do this. He didn't think his heart would take Jessica hating him because he never could stand it when she was mad at him when she was alive.

He looked down as he started waking towards her. All too soon he was near enough to see she was holding his flowers watching him approach while she knelt by her grave.

"You remembered about the roses," she said looking at them, gently placing them back in front of her gravestone and stood up. "You killed me Sam."

Sam shook his head. "No. No I love you," he said fighting back the tears.

"We talked about not keeping secrets from each other, but you kept the biggest secret of them all. My life was in danger by just being with you."

"I just wanted a normal life," Sam protested weakly. "I thought that if I had told you the truth about my family, about hunting, that you wouldn't believe me. You would have seen me as some kind of freak and leave me. I needed you Jess."

"You needed me? I needed to live. And what do you consider a normal life anyway? Your mother died above you on the ceiling, your father spent years training you to be this super weapon against evil, and then I die from what ever killed your mother. Real normal Sam."

Sam shook his head. "Jess, baby, please."

"You knew what was coming and you left. Why Sam? Why didn't you stop it? Why didn't you protect me? Why did you have to let me die all alone? You promised me that everything was going to be ok," Jess said tears streaming down her face.

Sam closed his eyes shaking his head. "This isn't real. This isn't real!"

"Oh it's very real," a deep voice growled.

"Dad?" Sam said opening his eyes to find that Jess and the graveyard were gone. He was back in the motel room with Dean and his Dad. They stood in front of him and Sam was sure that his Dad hadn't looked this angry the night he left for Stanford.

"Who else would be having to continually save your ass!" John yelled.

The motel room looked like it had doubled in size. Dean, the real one, was in the back ground still keeping vigil over Sam, still talking.

"Dad we're wasting our time here," dream Dean said standing just behind his Dad.

John smiled a little. "You know son," he said as he put a hand on Dean's shoulder. "I think you're right."

"This won't work. I know you're not real," Sam said quietly. "None of this is real!" he shouted.

"Really?" John said quietly. "Look down at your hands Sam."

Sam looked down feeling a sticky dampness on his hands. He brought them up, palm side up and discovered they were coated in blood. He watched as the red liquid dripped off his hands and pooled on the floor.

"That's right," John said a little quieter. "Their blood is on your hands," he said waving an arm at the mass of spirits that began to appear around them. "These are all the people Dean and I couldn't get to while you were at university."

Sam looked over seeing Jessica stepping out from the crowd.

His heart squeezed in his chest. "No! No! This isn't real!" Sam yelled looking at the red stain on his hands and fell to his knees.

"How could you be so weak. How could I ever think you would be able to handle this?" John sneered down at his son. Then walked away with Dean disappearing into the crowd of people closing in around Sam.

"Stop please!" he whispered pain wracking his body. "Please stop."

"You will stop hurting him," Victoria demanded.

Miranda sighed dramatically. "I was just getting started," she whined as she tightened her grip on Sam.

Sam gritted his teeth against the pain.

"You will let him go," Victoria said forcefully as she raised her hands.

Miranda and Sam were hit by a burst of energy. Miranda threw Sam aside making him bounce off the wall. Miranda and Victoria began to fight, each moving slightly with energy hits that could not be seen.

Sam looked up from where he lay on the floor and saw Miranda intent on fighting Victoria. He closed his eyes concentrating on the only thing he knew would protect him. A container appeared by his hand and he quickly encircled himself in salt, putting some on himself for good measure.

The darkness turned abruptly back to him and shrieked. "NO! You have too much to pay for!" It tried to reach into the circle and howled in pain. The crowd of spirits disappeared.

Sam looked over to Victoria the white spirit who nodded at him. "You will be safe until someone can lead you home," she said to him. "Please do not forget your promise."

"I won't," Sam said and Victoria disappeared.

"No naïve," the darkness murmured. "There are other ways."

Spirits began to appear before Sam. Jess and his mother looking just like they were when they died on the ceiling, tears falling down their cheeks. His father screaming at him to be tougher like Dean. When Sam turned away from them others would appear. Everywhere he looked he saw anger, mistrust, sadness and pain all because of him.

He looked beyond them trying to focus on Dean and the living world. His brother was still keeping vigil over him, still talking. Sam tried to move beyond the pain in his head trying to focus on what Dean was saying.

The voices got louder and louder eventually drowning out Dean with the noise. Sam sat down in the circle of salt wrapping his arms around his knees. He looked up at Jessica who stood in front of him, closed his eyes and rested his forehead on his knees wishing for his nightmare to end.

To Be Continued…..

41

12/7/2006


	2. Chapter 2

-1Dream-State

Chapter 2

By infinite shadow

Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable from Supernatural including the boys, but when I find that genie in the lamp… No money was made from this endeavour so please don't sue.

Author's note: Thanks to lynxlan who has seriously helped me out over the months with this story. Your patience is appreciated my friend. Additions and changes have been made after the fact so any errors you see in the story are solely mine.

Thanks to all of the kind reviews for chapter 1. Here is the second chapter, hope it's ok. Please let me know what you're thinking after you've read the story. Good, bad, ugly or suggestions.. Feedback is always welcome.

Now on with the story….

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Hours passed quietly while Dean spoke about the demons and spirits he'd hunted on his own over the last couple of years. Silence fell over the small room again after Dean had finished telling Sam about the New Orleans job he'd been on just before getting him at Stanford.

"I wish you could tell me what was happening in there," Dean said softly. "I haven't felt this useless since the damn berserker attack."

Dean was quiet for a few moments just watching his brother's chest rise and fall as he breathed in and out. It was the only movement that proved for the moment his brother was alive but not reachable. He looked so calm and peaceful as he slept. It reminded Dean of the nights when he would wake from a nightmare about losing Sam. His heart would be pounding in his chest and a fine layer of sweat would cover his face. He would spend over an hour watching his little brother breathe in and out as he slept before he was convinced he was really there. Only then would he allow himself to go back to sleep.

"You're not just sleeping are you Sammy? Cause, dude if you are, I'm so listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd all the way to our next job," Dean said knowing Sam would rather listen to anything else, including talk radio, before listening to that group. Dean had never understood Sam's aversion to the group, but had used it to it's full advantage when he could.

"C'mon Sammy. I'll do just about anything, you know that right? But you gotta let me know how to help you," Dean said but Sam didn't give any signs that he'd heard him. "You know how much I hate the silent treatment kiddo."

The room was quiet for quite sometime as Dean tried to figure out what to talk about next.

A pounding on the door startled Dean almost making him fall off the bed. He rubbed at his eyes and got up to answer the door. He slowly opened the door a crack planning to tell who ever it was to go away. He swung the door open as surprise registered on his face.

"Well? You just going to stand there all day with your mouth open boy or are you going to let me in?" the woman said with feigned annoyance.

"How?" Dean sputtered too surprised to do anything else.

"It's what I do. Now where is your brother?" She demanded as she brushed past Dean and walked into the room.

Dean closed the door leaving his hand on the door knob as he watched the dark woman approach Sam. "Yeah, but we're like two states over," he protested still perplexed.

Missouri ignored him as she paused at the base of the bed on which the younger man was sleeping. As she looked over his sleeping form her eyes showed her concern and affection even if her face looked stern. Making a tisking noise she moved to the side of the bed and placed her hands over Sam reaching out to find him.

"Is he here? Is he ok?" Dean asked quietly not able to hide the concern in his voice.

Missouri lowered her hands looking annoyed at him. The look quickly faded as she saw the fear in his eyes. Dean shook his head and looked away effectively hiding the fear. He slowly slunk down on the end of his bed as if his legs wouldn't hold him up anymore and rubbed his face with his hands. The psychicleft Sam's side and sat beside Dean on the bed just shy of rubbing shoulders with him.

"He is here and he's scared. I can feel his exhaustion and waves of fear coming off of him," she said quietly not adding that she could feel Dean's fear and anxiety as well. "He knows you're here. In fact you led him back here where he could be safe."

Dean turned to her his expressive green eyes mirroring the fear and anxiety she could feel coming off of him like gale force winds. "Can you help him?"

"Oh honey of course I can, that's why I'm here, but it won't be easy. I can feel another spirit here, one angry vengeful spirit. We need to get Sam back soon before it's too late," she said.

"Too late? But he's just asleep," Dean said then turned to look at her. "Isn't he?"

"Sam has been attacked by a powerful spirit and it's not been easy on him. The more he's attacked and the longer he's kept asleep, the harder it will be for him to wake up. It's kind of like the spirit is slowly taking his life force from him, one excruciating small drop at a time. This type of spirit thrives on the pain and suffering it inflictson a victim and will make it last as long as possible. That has worked in our favour as it gave me just enough time to get here," Missouri said as gently as she could. She didn't want to finish what she had to say but knew the hunter deserved to know the entire painful truth. "Dean, Sam will expire in his sleep if we do not pull him out in the next hour or two."

Dean took a shaky breath as he paled noticeably. "God. What can I do?" He asked then swallowed convulsively as if trying to keep himself from throwing up.

"Stay close. He'll need to hear you and see you as soon as he wakes up. It'll help confirm to him that he's actually awake," she said.

Dean nodded and moved to the side of the bed watching Missouri walk between the beds. Missouri stepped up to the bed putting her hands above his chest again. Stretching out she let her energies flow from her like a gentle wave seeking out Sam's essence.

"Sam? I know you're here in this room with us. Talk to me boy. Let me hear you," she said as she closed her eyes and concentrated. She pushed past Dean's fear fuelled energy and after a few moments she felt another presence. A weak, scared and exhausted energy.

Sam wearily lifted his head slightly and looked up from where he sat on the floor encircled in salt. "Missouri?" he whispered.

"Yes. I'm here Sam," she said her voice resonating in both Sam's world and in true reality doing her best to sound strong and comforting.

Dean let out a sigh of relief when she responded to his brother. But when nothing else happened relief turned back into heart pounding fear. His little brother was so close, close enough for Missouri to talk to him, but far enough away that Dean couldn't reach him. "Well? Is he going to wake up?" He blurted out.

"The spirit is here, and it's a piece of work. It's keeping him from waking," she murmured. "Oh Sam."

"What? What!" Dean demanded.

"This angry spirit, it has several images surrounding your brother. I believe two of them are your mother and his girlfriend. And, oh dear," Missouri paused.

"Damnit what?" Dean almost growled as he placed a protective hand on his brother's arm not liking being kept hanging especially when it came to his brother.

"You and your father are there as well, something the spirit found in his memory. You are both extremely angry with him," Missouri said and the disapproval in her tone sent a warning chill up Dean's back.

Dean sighed heavily. Sam and Dad had fought a lot over the years with him in the middle playing referee. There were almost nightly fights and Dean had hated every last argument. He wished Sam would get past the testosterone teenager angst filled dad's not always right arguments. But when he'd graduated from high school he'd put in for scholarships without telling him or their Father. When their Dad had found out about the scholarship he'd never told Sam he was proud, it was just another argument. Dean found himself in the middle again playing referee and not even able to consider the ramifications of Sam leaving them. Twin slamming bedroom doors rang out in their small apartment. Instead of checking up on his brother Dean grabbed a beer and watched TV trying to forget the words spoken in the argument he'd just broken up.

He and Sam had fought like any brothers did usually good natured insults or sparring for training. Any actual heated arguments had never gotten out of hand. But a few weeks after he'd broken up the argument between Sam and his Dad about school he'd found Sam packing for university. Dean had felt betrayed at him leaving and was scared that he'd never come back. Instead of telling his brother that they screamed at each other until Dean had literally seen red and he'd hit Sam hard. The blow had sent his brother backwards over the bed stopping when he'd hit the corner of a dresser. Dean looked down at his hand to his brother in shock. It was the first and only time he'd hit his little brother out of pure anger. He'd watched as Sam slowly picked himself up, grabbed his partially packed bag and left without a glance or word to Dean. He didn't talk to him againuntil he'd shown up to Stanford asking for his help in finding his father.

"Sam you can come back to us now," Missouri said and her strong voice brought Dean back to the present.

Sam rested his head back down on his knees. "I can't. I don't know how. Can't, can't you feel them?" He said his voice betraying his exhaustion and fear.

"Yes I can feel them, but they're not real," she said calmly hoping to give the young man a ray of hope.

"It's probably not even you," Sam said curling up a little tighter in the circle giving in a little more to his fear.

"Sam listen to me," Missouri said and the sudden change in her tone made Dean tighten his hold on his brother's arm.

"You're not real. None of this is real. Mom and Jess are not standing in front of me crying. Dean can't possibly hate me this much. The dark shadow does not exist. I'm going to wake up in the car and this nightmare will be over," Sam said desperately. "Why can't this just be over."

"We need him awake," Missouri said pulling back the bed sheets.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked.

"He's not going to last a couple of hours. We need him back now," she said pulling up Sam's shirt and touching his chest with one hand and his head with the other. Her body stiffened like she was having a few thousand volts run through her body.

Dean looked on helpless to do anything.

"Sam?" Missouri said quietly.

He lifted his head off his knees again seeing his friend standing nearby. "Missouri?"

"Yes it's me," she said stepping through the images of Jessica and Mary making them disappear. "It's time to wake up," she said extending a hand to him.

"How do I know it's really you? You're just another dream, another trick of the darkness," he said exhaustion colouring his voice.

She stepped forward. "Sam all I can tell you is that it's me. I'm here to help you. Dean is just beside himself with worry. Now give me your hand boy, you are waking up."

Sam looked at her for a moment unsure what to do. Miranda could know about Missouri, she seemed to know about everything else. It would be easy for her to trick him out of the protection he had found. Then Sam took a closer look and realized that Missouri's hand had passed through the protective circle of salt. He smiled slightly and took her hand.

A bright flash filled the room. Missouri pulled her hands off and staggered back sitting on the other bed. Sam gasped for breath and tried to push himself up and off the bed but his limbs were on fire with pins and needles.

"Sam? Hey it's ok, look at me it's ok," Dean said placing a hand on his shoulder.

Sam reached out and grabbed Dean's arm tightly. "Dean?" he asked hoarsely.

"Yeah it's me geek, who else," Dean said smiling as relief soared through him making him light headed and almost giddy for a moment.

Sam closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and moved to get up.

"Sam?" Dean asked as he helped him up and steadied him. "I don't think you should be up," he said gently forcing Sam to sit on the bed, sitting close beside him.

"Have to go," Sam said panting slightly at the effort it took to get up as he stared at the motel door.

"Sam take a good look at yourself. You've been asleep for like a day and a half while under attack from a demon. Cut yourself some slack and take it easy for a bit. Besides where could you possibly have to be?" Dean asked.

"Dean I promised her, I-I have to," he said then paled.

"Sam?" Dean asked as his brother closed her eyes.

"Dizzy," Sam whispered leaning forward.

Dean put his hand gently on is brother's lower back and he wasn't sure if the touch was to reassure his little brother or himself. "You need to hurl?"

"Don't think so. Just need a minute," he gasped out.

"Take as many as you need," he said then nodded at Missouri. "Thank you."

Missouri smiled at him. "Welcome," she said then looked to Sam hearing his unsaid question. Her smile turned to concern as she looked at his current position. He was sitting on the bed with his head almost between his long legs trying to get the blood back into his head before he passed out.

"I felt your distress and thought I could help is all," she said softly.

"But," Sam tried to protest but was having trouble collecting his thoughts. He decided to concentrate on breathing slowly and closed his eyes. He tried to ignore the burning in the back of his throat and the dizziness that made the room seem to spin around him.

"Yes I am far from home," she paused seeing the unconvinced look on Dean's face and sighed. The jig was up. "Oh all right. Your father told me you were in danger and that you and Dean would need my help. He told me the motel name and here I am."

"Dad told you?" Dean repeated his eyes widening in surprise.

"Yes," she said patiently already feeling the confusing mix of emotions coming off the older hunter.

"Why didn't he come himself?" Dean asked.

"He wanted to but he wouldn't have made it in time," Missouri said softly. "Dean had I arrived an hour or two from now it would have looked like Sam had suffered an aneurysm in his sleep. He would have never woken up."

Dean looked down at his brother feeling Sam's breathing speed up as he began to shake. "Dean?" Sam said.

"OK buddy," Dean said quietly hearing the urgency in Sam's voice. He helped Sam up to his feet and into the bathroom.

Sam collapsed around the toilet and his back arched painfully as he threw up. When he was finished he sat on the floor with his back to the tub and wiped his hand over his sweat and tear stained face. Sam drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them grasping them tightly.

"Does Dad hate me that much that he would stay away?" He asked as tremors shook his body.

"Sam Dad doesn't hate you, he never has. He's been hard on you to protect you, so you would know how to be safe. I'm sure he'd be here if he could," Dean said.

Sam looked up at him. "You don't really believe that do you?"

Dean knelt in front of Sam. "Honestly Sam, I know Dad would be here if he could," he said and frustration flared in him as Sam looked away.

"Look if he didn't care about you he wouldn't have sent Missouri to help you out of wherever you were. Think about it, Dad could not have saved you himself," Dean said then paused when he was sure Sam paled even more.

Sam nodded as he closed his eyes, rested his head on his knees and sighed. "Yeah you're right. He would be here if he could."

The words were said so softly that Dean wasn't sure he'd actually spoken for a moment. His stance softened at his brother's words and the frustration was gone replaced with concern. He quickly got a facecloth and doused it with cool water. "Sammy?" he said quietly.

"Yeah?" Sam said as he opened his eyes and looked at his brother.

"Here," Dean said handing him the cool cloth and turned back to the sink. He filled a glass with cool water. Turning back to his brother on the floor he took back the cloth and handed him the glass.

"Thanks," Sam mumbled and rinsed out his mouth. He spit out the vile water and rinsed again. He handed back the glass to his brother.

"Come on let's get you back to bed. You're a mess," Dean said as he pulled his brother to his feet as gently as he could.

"I have to go," Sam protested weakly.

"You're not going anywhere right now kiddo," Dean said as he pulled Sam's arm around his shoulder and led him back into the room.

Sam's eyes widened in panic as Dean tried to get him to sit on the bed. "N-NO!" he said trying to push Dean off of him. "I don't want to sleep, I won't wake up again. Don't make me sleep, please Dean!"

Dean grasped him harder afraid that he'd fall. "Ok man it's ok. How about you sit at the table," Dean said helping him over to the table and into a chair.

Sam sat down and closed his eyes for a moment resting his head in his hands. Dean grabbed the trash can and placed it beside Sam just in case. Then sat across from him on the bed Missouri moving to join him.

"Why don't you tell us about the promise you made and where you need to go," Missouri asked.

"I promised Jessica I would help her," Sam said quietly looking over at Dean.

"Sammy," Dean said softly.

"Jessica wasn't here, you know that right?" Missouri asked.

Dean looked at the woman sitting beside him. He'd had his suspicions that it wasn't Jessica that his little brother was seeing, but in their line of work stranger things had happened.

"Her name was Victoria and she was in love with a married man. She was killed near here and has been stuck here for over fifty years. I promised to free her," Sam said looking away.

"Do you know where her bones are?" Missouri asked.

Sam looked over to the woman and shrugged slightly. "Not exactly, but I don't think it's far from here."

"Well did she show you were she was? Maybe we could figure it out," Dean suggested.

"She showed me," Sam said and closed his eyes as phantom pain from the run and fall seemed to spike through his back and ribs for a second and was gone.

"Sam?" Dean said and stood up as his brother grimaced in pain.

Sam opened his eyes when he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder and took a deep breath. Looking up into Dean's concerned gaze he tried to smile. "I'm ok."

Dean looked unconvinced but pulled back and sat beside him on a chair. Sam smiled. This felt real and familiar. Whenever he was hurt Dean would hover protectively. Now he knew he was back and this wasn't some elaborate trick by Miranda to keep him in his dream.

"She fell into an old welland after three days of agony Victoria died. She's been stuck here being chased by the dark spirit for years. She just wants it all to end," Sam said softly looking out the window.

"Sam we'll help you keep your promise to her but you are no position to take a walk through the woods right now," Dean said. "She can wait a little while longer while you get some strength back."

Sam looked back at him. "Dean you didn't see her, didn't talk to her. She's tired and the darkness hurts her."

"I understand that Sam, really I do," Dean said catching his brother's gaze. He did understand but he'd been looking after his little brother since he was four years old. He knew him well enough to know that Sam believed he could go and do this now, but his strong willed intensions would not get him very far in his exhausted body.

"Take a good look at yourself Sammy. You won't be able to take 10 steps out that door and I can't carry you through the woods looking for a well that may or may not be here," Dean said calmly.

"It's Sam and if you won't help me I'll go myself," he said. He slowly pushed himself up from the table paling slightly with the movement and took a small step, then another. He began to shake with the effort paling considerably more by the fourth step.

Dean watched him, making no move to help or stop him. "Sam don't do this."

"Boy aren't you going to stop him?" Missouri demanded starting to get up.

Dean grabbed her arm gently to keep her where she was. "No," he said quietly to her watching Sam.

Sam was visibly shaking and panting by the time he reached the door. He leaned his forehead against it for a moment trying to get his breath back. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea," he mumbled more to himself than to the others in the room and he sent a silent apology to Victoria.

Dean stood up slowly and took a few steps towards his brother closing the gap between them. Sam stood there for a moment leaning on the door then began to slide down it as he lost consciousness.

Dean caught him before he could fall to the floor and shook his head a little. "Stubborn to the end, just like dad," he muttered and carried his brother as best he could over to the bed.

"Get the sheets," he said to Missouri.

She looked disgusted with him as she did what he asked. Dean laid his brother on the bed gently then pulled the covers up around him. With a deep sigh he sat down beside him.

"Look no matter what I said he would have gone for the door," Dean said softly. "I don't want to fight him Missouri he's been through enough."

"But the spirits," Missouri protested.

Dean got up and walked over to the table picking up a device. "This amateur device has not gone off once since Sam woke up, has it?" he said showing the EMF meter to her.

"Well no," she admitted holding her retort at his tone knowing that he was beyond exhausted and still filled with worry over his little brother.

"Do you feel them?" Dean asked.

"No, but that does not mean that they won't come back," she argued.

"I don't think they will. Look the way I see it, the one that wanted Sam's help, Jessica, wants this all to be over. She should realize that Sam needs to regain some strength to do what he promised. She is probably leading this dark spirit on a wild goose chase," Dean said.

"And if it takes him again?" Missouri asked.

Dean looked away putting the meter back on the table. "Tell me I had another option," he said quietly.

"Well, no," she said softly. "Dean I don't know if I can pull him out again."

"Let's hope it won't come to that," he said quietly grabbing the car keys from the table. "I need to get some food for when he wakes up," he said swaying slightly grabbing the car key out from the rest on the ring.

"Boy you are in no condition to be driving right now. You are going to get some sleep while I go and get us some breakfast. Don't you even think about fighting me on this," Missouri scolded.

Dean sputtered slightly. "I'm fine."

"Bull," she said starring him down.

Dean looked at her trying to come up with an appropriate comeback but came up empty.

"Just like I thought. You get into this bed and get some sleep or you won't be any good to Sam when he wakes up. Give me the room key," she said holding out her hand.

Dean fished in his pocket and silently handed it over to her then laid down on the bed fully clothed. He closed his eyes and heard her leave. He got up grabbed the EMF, put one headphone in and laid down again. He was asleep in minutes.

0000000000000

The key sliding into the lock brought Dean to an aware state in his sleep. He slowly reached under his pillow for the knife he always kept there, jolting awake as he didn't feel the familiar blade handle there.

"Oh for heaven sake boy it's just me," Missouri said as she opened the door.

Dean sat up slowly on the bed watching her struggle with three cups of coffee and a bag of food. She placed them onto the table handing Dean a cup.

"Thanks," he mumbled taking a drink of the hot liquid and glanced at the time. "Where did you find something open this early?"

"Oh well I used to live in this town for a few years. Looked up an old friend who runs a bakery and deli in town," she said.

"Town?" Dean repeated.

"It's about a half hour down the road. She was nice enough to open up and let me take what we needed. It was good to see her again and get caught up," Missouri said with a smile.

Dean nodded glancing over his shoulder as he heard movement behind him. Sam was slowly easing himself into a sitting position.

"You ok?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam mumbled as he rubbed his head a little.

Missouri smiled and brought him over his coffee. Sam nodded his thanks to her. She returned to the table and unpacked the bag. Sam quickly got dressed then the boys joined her and had breakfast. Sam told them what he remembered from the dark spirit and the white spirit who had taken Jessica's form. There wasn't much to go on as he'd been shown what the well looked like in the dark.

They got ready to go and Missouri headed out first. Dean grabbed Sam's arm just before he left the room.

"You sure you're up to this? Missouri and I can find this on our own," Dean said the concern clear on his face.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said looking at his brother's disbelieving look. "Dean I feel better, really."

Dean looked at him for a moment then let him go following him out of the motel room. After getting the supplies out of the Impala, they headed into the woods trying to follow Sam's description of his dream. The trees were taller and the brush overgrown. There was no trail to be found.

After hours of searching they paused in a small clearing. Misty rain had begun to fall making them cold and wet.

"Anything look familiar at all?" Missouri asked.

Sam shook his head and sat on a tree stump, jumping back off as if he'd received a shock. "No, wait," he said looking closely at the stump. He closed his eyes trying to remember the dream more clearly. He started walking away hearing Dean and Missouri following behind him. They walked for a few minutes before Sam stopped looking around him.

"This is it," Missouri said.

"Yeah," Sam said. "Do you feel it Dean?"

"You're the one with the happy tingly feelings here Sam, but it's way creepy if that's what you're asking."

Sam smiled slightly and looked around the ground. There was no tell tale sign of a well. There were twigs, branches, leaves, moss and bushes covering the ground.

"Ok. Be careful where you step," Dean cautioned adjusting the bag in his grip and stepping forward. "I don't want to pull anyone," he froze pausing mid-sentence as he felt the ground bow slightly under him. A loud groan and crack was heard and then he fell hitting a few roots on the way down. He landed hard on top of his bag and some old bones. He was still, momentarily stunned at the sudden stop to his freefall.

"Dean! Dean can you hear me?" Sam shouted from somewhere above him.

Dean moved enough to roll off the bag and the now broken bones and onto his back. He inhaled to yell up to them but coughed on the dirt he'd disturbed. Pain flared momentarily in his side then was gone. He closed his eyes as a quiet groan escaped his mouth. "I am not going to think about what I just inhaled," he mumbled to himself.

He opened his eyes to see Sam and Missouri looking down at him concerned. "Sammy the entire state can hear you."

"You ok?" Sam hollered down.

"Peachy," Dean shot back.

He got to his knees and took a look around at his surroundings. It was dark, dirty and damp. The well was mostly dry with one or two small puddles. He'd landed in one of them and mud clung to his clothes and had splattered on the bones next to him. There were two skeletons lying side by side, the smaller one had it's arm around the larger one.

"What a way to go," he said quietly.

Dean opened the bag that had fallen with him and fished out the rope. He glanced up to see Sam above him still looking down.

"Sam catch," he said. "Secure it around a tree or something so I can get outta here."

Dean threw up the rope catching his breath on the pain that wrenched across his side. Sam disappeared from view and he hunched over holding his side until the pain subsided.

He pulled rock salt and lighter fluid out of the bag, ducking as the rope came back down smacking him in the head. Dean glared upwards muttering curses at his brother.

"Oops," Sam said innocently at him then disappeared from view.

Dean closed up the bag and tied it to the rope. "Sammay! Pull the bag up," he shouted and watched as it began inching upwards.

When the bag was clear he opened the rock salt and shook the container. White pebble-like salt fell all over the floor of the well and the bones. When the container was empty he soaked everything with lighter fluid. He dropped the empty container on the ground.

"Sam where's the rope," he yelled looking skyward. "Hey I don't want to be down here all day."

"He is not there," a voice whispered beside him.

Dean visibly flinched stepping back to the well's wall. "Who?"

"I am the one who asked Sam for help. Now the darkness has him again," she said softly

"Sam!" Dean yelled again, but go no response. "Missouri, what about her?"

"She is not awake," the white spirit said looking away from him.

"Is she hurt," Dean asked. "Can you wake her?"

The spirit suddenly disappeared. "Man, I hate it when they do that," Dean mumbled as a chill ran through him. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," he murmured to himself over and over.

The rope finally came down and Dean moved out of it's path as it hit the ground.

"Sam!" he shouted when no one peered over the edge of the well.

Dean grabbed the rope in his hands and looked up the well wall. It wasn't going to be easy. He slowly began to pull himself up towards the surface, stopping frequently as the pain in his side increased every time he inched his way up. He continued on until he got to the surface.

He crawled his way onto firm ground then rolled onto his back panting. His eyes were closed as he took a moment to get his breath back around the pain in his side. He opened his eyes as he slowly rolled onto his knees to get up.

He eyes bulged as he took in the scene before him. Missouri was crouched over Sam her hands on his side and head. Her face was scrunched up in concentration with beads of sweat beginning to form on her brow.

It was Sam that made his heart skip in fear. He was curled up on the ground, his head cradled in his hands, low whimpers of pain coming out of him.

Dean turned back to the well, pulled out a pack of matches, lighting up the entire pack and threw it into the well. He rushed towards Sam and Missouri falling to his knees as the lighter fluid caught and began to burn.

"Sam?" Dean said quietly. There was no response from either him or Missouri. He looked back over his shoulder at the well as the smoke began to rise and something white caught his eye under some brush.

Dean looked back to his brother. "Fight the bitch Sam. I have an idea."

He went over to the bush, pushing the branches out of the way, revealing more human bones.

"No!" he heard a shriek from behind him. Dean looked up and saw a solid shadow leaning over his brother a dark haze surrounding Sam's head.

"Let him go," Dean yelled.

"You all have too much to pay for," it snarled intensifying it's grip on Sam.

Sam screamed kicking out and knocking Missouri from him.

Dean looked down at the bones then back at the spirit. "You've messed with the wrong family," he said as he unearthed the bones throwing them down into the fire.

The spirit wailed, yelling in anger, screaming in pain. It released Sam from it's grip as it was pulled back towards the well and into the fire disappearing from sight.

He went to Missouri who was beginning to move holding her thigh. "You ok?"

"Yeah," she said manoeuvring herself to sit against a tree.

Dean knelt on the wet ground beside his brother. "Sam?" he said quietly but got no response as he hovered over him.

"He'll be ok. Just give him some time," Missouri said quietly.

Dean nodded. He pulled Sam off the wet ground as much as he could shifting to sit against a tree and pulled him back to rest against his chest doing his best to ignore the pain in his side. He leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes.

"What happened?" Dean asked quietly

"I'm not exactly sure. One minute everything was going fine, the next something threw me against a tree. Had the wind knocked out of me. I could see Sam start to come towards me but the spirits had come back. That shadow thing had attacked him," Missouri said quietly shaking her head. "Sam looked like he was screaming but no sound came out. Then he was on the ground and you were yelling up for the rope. I tossed it down to you as soon as I could then tried to connect with Sam. He wouldn't let me in though, fought me tooth and nail."

Dean nodded his arms tightening slightly around Sam who had started to shake slightly.

"This is so messed up," Dean said quietly watching the smoke rise from the well. "Even for us."

Missouri studied him for a moment. "Why haven't you asked me?"

Dean looked over to her. "Asked you what?"

"Where your father is?" She asked gently.

Dean shook his head a little looking away. "I don't know. For a while now I've been ok with just knowing he's alive by the text messages. I thought he would've come to the house in Kansas. When he didn't show then I figured he wouldn't surface until he was ready, regardless of what Sam or I needed.

"He was there," Missouri said softly.

Dean looked back at her, nodded, shifting slightly not saying anything for a moment. "Couldn't be bothered then, cause it's not like he needed directions to the house," he spat out looking away.

Sam mumbled something undetectable in his sleep and shifted against his brother. Dean sucked in his breath when intense pain flared across his side. He blinked away the tears and cleared his throat. He closed his eyes trying to blank everything out.

"Dean?" Sam said confusion filling his voice. "Why am I covered in dirt?" he asked looking down at his clothing.

"God dude, you weigh a ton, sit up," Dean grumbled.

Sam leaned forward shivering against the cold. He got to his feet. "You ok?" he asked Missouri.

"Yes I'm fine," she said accepting his hand to help her up. Sam turned his attention back to Dean who was struggling to get to his feet.

Dean groaned and leaned against the tree he'd been sitting against. "We're all fine, the fire's out and Casper and the bitch are gone. Let's go."

Sam watched Dean walk away from him and Missouri favouring his side. "It was bad wasn't it?" he asked her.

"Still is," she said limping slightly.

"You're hurt," Sam said reaching out to help her.

"It's nothing," she said waiving off his help.

Sam let her set the pace back to the motel and after a few moments he asked, "Did I do that to you?"

"No, that dark spirit did this," she said sternly. "Don't you worry about it."

Sam nodded. "Dad was in Kansas with you."

Missouri looked at him surprised. "Yes. Did you feel him? Did you know he was there?"

"No I couldn't feel him. It doesn't seem to work like that for me. I just get these weird sensations sometimes when spirits are around. It's just that if dad were to show up and not want to be seen he'd seek out a safe place where he could get good intel. You've helped him in the past so you'd be a safe place for him to go."

"Well he's not there now, and when he was he didn't stay long. He was checking up on you boys to make sure you were ok," she said and looked over at Sam when he sighed heavily.

"So he doesn't want to see us? I mean I understand why he wouldn't want to se me, but why would he avoid Dean?" Sam asked.

"I don't know why he's avoiding you or your brother," she said emphasizing the you. "I think he's searching for something he may never find."

Sam pushed open the motel room door that had been left open a crack. Dean had his bag on the bed and was throwing things in it.

"What's this?" Sam asked him.

"Time to go Sam. Thank you for your help Missouri," Dean said not looking up from putting clothes in his bag.

"Dean," Sam started to say.

"Don't Dean me. We've stayed too long in Motel Psycho. Time. To. Go."

Sam looked disbelievingly at his brother. He took two steps forward and barely touched Dean's side that he had been favouring. Dean gasped, doubled over and sat on the bed. "What the hell Sam!" Dean yelled when he found his breath.

"We're staying for at least another day, you are getting medical attention. And, when we do leave, I'm driving for the next couple of days," Sam said in a no nonsense tone.

"Fine," Dean said glaring at him. "But if you scratch my baby I will kill you."

Sam rolled his eyes and turned back to Missouri. "Did Dad say anything or give you any clues as to where he was going?"

She shook her head. "No. I wish I knew. He never lets me know where he's heading."

"So he goes to you a lot?" Sam asked.

"No, not really. Just when things get too much or too muddled he comes to me for a little clarity," she said and silently added a safe place to find sanctuary for a few hours.

Dean shook his head. "Give it up Sam. Dad will find us when he's ready. Until then we're just wasting our time."

"How can you say that? Dean we need him," Sam said turning back to his brother.

"No. You need him. I thought I needed him, but I was wrong Sam. You don't need him that much either," Dean said getting up, going into the bathroom and quietly closing the door behind him.

Sam stared at the closed door. There had been no anger in Dean's tone just resignation and acceptance of how things were. How could he think that the search for their father was a waste of time? It had been important enough for his older brother to come and get him from school to find their father. When had it changed for Dean? Was it because Dad didn't show up at their old home in Kansas? How was their Dad supposed to know they were there. Then he suddenly realized hat Dean would have called their father for help and when he hadn't answered Dean had given up on him somewhat.

"He misses your father an awful lot, doesn't he? Your father is just so stubborn," Missouri said.

Sam turned to her as her words broke him out of his reverie. "Dad's searching for what killed Mom and Jessica."

"Yes, I think so. I also think it's more than that, but I don't know what," Missouri said quietly.

Sam shook his head and started to sit on the bed. He changed his mind and moved to the table. "Missouri why can't he just talk to us?" Sam asked quietly.

"I don't know Sam. Your Dad's a pretty big mystery to me as well. He's just as hard to read as you are at times," she said softly.

Sam looked up at her. "I am?"

"Yes. I can read your brother like a book, he's got so many walls up, so guarded, he can't watch every corner at the same time. But you, and your father, your walls are smaller, thinner but stronger. You don't have them up all the time, so when they are up you know exactly what to protect, so I can't get in. People like you and your Dad could put me out of business," she said smiling at him. "You will find each other in time, of that I'm sure."

"You will tell us if you hear from him? Even if you don't know where he is, just that he's alive?" Sam asked.

"Of course," she said and opened the door. "You look after that brother of yours."

"I will," he said smiling slightly at her. "Thanks for everything."

Missouri left and Sam called the front desk to keep the room another night. He went through his clothes and pulled some out for laundry, doing the same with Dean's clothes. He sat on his bed and turned on the TV. He surfed for a while before Dean staggered out of the bathroom, damp from the shower, with a pair of boxers on. The bruising on his side was stark compared to the light blue material.

"You ok? Nothings broken?" Sam asked.

"Nope," Dean said sitting gingerly on the bed. "Don't need a doctor."

"Ok," Sam said getting up and handing the remote to Dean. "I'm doing a laundry run. Did I miss anything?" he asked putting Dean's bag beside him on the bed.

Dean glanced through it and shook his head.

"There's a laundry unit at the end of the motel. I'll be back, ok?"

Dean nodded and started flipping channels. "Use fabric softener this time, college boy."

"Fine. Make some coffee," Sam said around a yawn and left.

Dean surfed for a while after Sam left. His eyes strayed to his phone every couple of channels. He turned off the TV and spent some time struggling into a pair of jeans. He grabbed his phone, flipped it open, and chose a number from his address book. He paused with his thumb over the send button momentarily then pressed it. The call connected directly to voicemail.

"Dad it's Dean. Thought you'd want to know that Sam finally woke up and he's fine. It was real close though. Thanks for sending Missouri, I couldn't have gotten him back without her," Dean paused for a moment wanting to demand where he was and why he couldn't be bothered to see his sons. "Take care of yourself dad."

Dean flipped his phone closed angry with himself for not saying what he wanted to. Knowing that he'd never be able to stand up to his dad the way Sam could.

He eased himself off the bed and sat at the table pulling the laptop over to him. Time to go back to work. He began searching for any more missing children through newspaper articles. When he'd gotten through those he researched night demons. He looked up much later when Sam came into the room with the clean clothes.

"Hey," Sam said quietly as he put the laundry on Dean's bed. "Find anything?"

Dean watched as Sam grabbed their bags from the closet and began to throw clothes and their other things in them indiscriminately. "A few things," he said as Sam threw a shirt and socks at him.

"Like?" Sam said as he stopped packing looking around the room and looked at Dean. "Get dressed," he added as he went into the bathroom returning with a handful of motel toiletries and stuffed them into a bag.

"Are we leaving?" Dean asked as he slowly got his t-shirt on watching Sam put the packed bags by the door. "Damn dude you are packing up for us from now on."

"We need to get moving," Sam said looking around him. "Where are the keys?"

"Table. Why the sudden rush?" Dean asked struggling with his socks.

"Cops are on their way," Sam said opening the motel room door peering around the edge. "Come on."

"Next time you get to fall down the well and get bruised ribs, ok bitch?" Dean groused shoving his foot into his shoe.

Sam grabbed the bags and watched as Dean got his shoes on then grabbed the laptop. They got into the Impala and drove away before the police arrived.

A couple miles down the road Sam glanced at his brother. "You doing ok?"

"I'm fine," Dean said absently as he went through his cassette collection looking for some music.

"You must have made some serious points on check in," Sam said pulling up to a light and stopping.

Dean stopped rummaging through the music and looked over at Sam. "Oh Yeah?" he said the corner of this mouth beginning to curve up into a smile.

"Yeah. The girl came to the laundry to warn me her dad had called in the fraudulent credit card," Sam said.

"Right," Dean said digging in his jacket for his wallet. He played with the card they'd used during check-in. Folding it back and fourth for a while until it broke. He then broke the two pieces into smaller ones. He sighed as he tossed it out the window. "So long Nugent."

Sam shook his head as his brother took up the search again for some music. He popped in Nazareth and then slumped down in the seat a little.

"You know I could pull over and you could stretch out in the back," Sam offered.

"Nah, I'll live," Dean said over the music. He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a map. He plotted out their course told Sam and then put the map away. He put on his sunglasses and eventually fell asleep.

It was almost midnight when Sam turned off the motor and woke Dean. He was surprised that he'd been able to drive for as long as he did, but it was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes and attention on the road.

"Well it's not as creepy as the last one," Dean said looking at the Back Road Motel.

"Yeah," Sam said quietly. "Look we've been on the road for twelve hours, straight. I'll be lucky if I can keep both eyes open to check into our room."

"I got it," Dean said as he eased himself out of the car. By the time he was out Sam was standing wearily on his side of the car waiting for him.

They checked into the motel. Dean put his bag onto the bed nearest the door and Sam put the laptop on the table. They cleaned up and went to bed. Sam woke first the next morning after another nightmare. He quietly got up and dressed. He opened the laptop and began researching the Sandman. Sam was surprised that he had been good and evil entities in DC Comics. There was quite a popular series from Neil Gaiman called The Endless Series that had the Sandman in it. Aside from the actual legend there wasn't much he could find.

"How long have you been up?" Dean asked his words muffed by the pillow.

"Not long," Sam said not looking up from the computer. "Couple of hours."

Dean looked at his watch. "Dude it's 6:30 am."

Sam looked over at him. "Yeah, so?"

Dean sat up and pulled on a shirt. "How much sleep did you get?"

"This conversation is getting really old," Sam said turning his attention back to the computer.

"How much Sam," Dean pressed.

"I don't know. Four maybe?" he said looking at his brother.

Dean nodded, scratched his head and went into the bathroom surprising Sam by not giving him a lecture about getting more sleep. Dean came out and put on some jeans.

"You're not going to find much about the Sandman in there," he said.

"Yeah, it's strange cause almost every culture has a lore that's similar," Sam said turning away from the screen and rubbing at his eyes.

"What you should be looking for are child-stealers, night raiders or boo-baggers," Dean said

"Boo-baggers?" Sam repeated.

"Yeah. There is lore out there that night raiders from other worlds that cannot have children of their own come to this world and steal them. Boo-baggers steal babies and young children. They stuff them into a carry bag or sack until they return to their world. But there are many stories of children being taken. Remember any?" Dean asked as he sat on the bed across from where Sam was sitting at the table.

"The Pied Piper of Hamlin?" Sam ventured.

"That's right, although not what were dealing with here. There's also Hansel and Gretel. There is a similar Russian legend about a witch named Baba Yagga. Her home is fenced by the bones of her victims who's eyes are said to glow in the moonlight. But again I don't think that's what we're up against," Dean said.

"Why not?" Sam asked.

"Mostly cause no bodies have turned up. In the fairy tales we've heard over the years children that were stolen or abused, with few exceptions, were taken outside - walking through a forest, skipping down a path towards a mountain, or going to Grandmother's house. At least one of the many children taken in the last couple of weeks would have fought back if they could have. They would have called out, or turned something over, made enough noise to get their parents into their bedrooms. All of these kids were taken from the safety of their rooms. It just doesn't fit with those other stories," Dean said.

"So the Sandman has gone from an old guy sprinkling sand in children's eyes for good dreams into a kidnapper who never asks for ransom? It just doesn't make sense," Sam argued.

Dean nodded. "Well the Sandman wasn't always looked upon as a good visitor. He's been shown over time as a fairy, a small jolly man in a costume or even as a grim reaper. Some stories have him throw things at your head while you sleep, or suffocating you with sand, or putting you to sleep forever, or my personal favourite, he steals your eyes and eats them," Dean said grimacing slightly.

Sam shook his head. "Not quite the picture most people have of him, is it?"

"Nope. He's not just the old guy, with the long beard and candle helping you to get good dreams by sprinkling sand on you," Dean said.

"So what could it be then?" Sam asked as he rubbed his eyes. "He leaves the sand and lit candle behind as his calling card. I would have thought that this thing or person would have used this and called for a ransom or something."

"This isn't out of CSI here Sam. You're right, if this was a person he'd use that as his MO but it isn't. We just have to figure out which demon this actually is," Dean said. "Have you checked the headlines from this morning yet?"

"No, not yet," Sam said turning back to the laptop and was quiet for a few moments while he did his search and went through the results. "Dean there was another abduction last night. Two actually, Jason and Sarah Archer, but Jason fought back and escaped. He's in a trauma ward at the local hospital."

Dean walked over and read over Sam's shoulder. "We need to get there," he said quietly.

"Yeah, let's go," Sam said as he closed up the laptop.


	3. Chapter 3

-1Dream State

Chapter 3

By infinite shadow

Disclaimer: I do now own anything recognizable in the following story. All recognizable characters belong to the WB, the CW and company. No money was made so don't sue. I have no money anyway. So you'd get nothing.

Author's notes: Here is chapter 3! Yay! Thanks as usual to Lynxlan for the beta. Welcome to the site!

Author's notes part 2: If chapter 4 isn't up by August 4th it won't be up for a while. Going on vacation that day. Working on it now, but it may not get done in time. Wish me luck.

Please read and review. Enjoy!

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Metallica flowed from the speakers while the car ate up untold miles down another highway as the boys headed towards their destination. Dean woke in the passenger seat and reminded himself that he was letting his brother drive. Sam was driving because he thought his older brother couldn't handle it. Dean knew he could drive in this condition, he had before, but he was not above letting his little brother think he was looking after him. And as an added bonus it had happened without some mushy chick flick moment that his brother seemed to enjoy so much.

Dean glancedover at Sam who looked like he was seriously concentrating on not scratching his precious car. His ribs were yelling in protest at being in his current seated position and he shifted hoping to ease some of the discomfort. He grimaced over the steady throb coming from his chest.

"You ok? Time for more Tylenol?" Sam asked not taking his attention away from the road ahead of him.

"Nah I'm good," Dean said. He looked out the window and watched the scenery fly by.

More miles passed, no more words had been spoken and the Metallica tape played on. Dean had snuck looks over at the driver several times over the past couple of hours. Sam was tense behind the wheel and if he was any stronger his grip would have mangled the steering wheel. But the most disturbing factor was that not one word had come out of Sam when the Metallica tapehad started it's third rotation, not one smart ass remark or even a heavy 'the things I endure for my brother' sigh.

"Uh Sam?" Dean said not really sure how to start this conversation, but knew it had to be done.

"Yeah?" Sam said.

"Next rest stop," Dean said and sighed internally. He so sucked at this although being that it was Sam it was easier, but still this was no where near his comfort zone.

"There's a town coming up. Do you feel like eating?" Sam asked.

"Sure," Dean said.

Silence filled the car again as Dean tried to figure out how to start.

"I'm ok Dean," Sam said quietly.

Dean whipped his head over to his brother. "Ok. Now I know I was up for the next super power. When did you get the mind reading power? Who do I get to send my complaint letter to?"

Sam chuckled slightly and felt himself relax a little. It always surprised him that his brother didn't believe that he had any super powers. Dean had always had this sixth sense about him and trouble. He was always there to get him out of trouble and it was always just in the nick of time. Stanford was a big example of that. When he'd asked his older brother about it, why he'd come back after dropping him off, Dean had just shrugged him off. That was only one time, but he had dozens of examples while growing up where Dean had saved him from something before he or his dad knew he was in danger.

"No I didn't get any new powers and with your penmanship they'll never know what you're complaining about," Sam said glancing over at his brother. "Seriously you have that look that you get when you have to do something you don't want to do."

"Oh yeah? And exactly what look is that?" Dean asked one eye brow going up into his forehead.

"It's a one of a kind Dean Winchester, I'm too uncomfortable to do this, but I'll do anything for my baby brother, even start a chick flick moment kinda look," Sam said and looked over at his brother with half a smile. "Kinda like that look you're wearing now. And no, if you're expecting me to sprout another head it's not gonna happen."

Dean blanched slightly as he looked over at his brother. It never occurred to him that Sam would remember any of what he said. At the time it was the only thing he could do, but now in the light of day with Sam sitting here beside him he was slightly horrified that he had been heard. He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably on his seat.

"Sammy did you hear what I said to you while you were . . . sleeping?" he asked.

"Yup. I heard lots," Sam said with a wide grin and glanced over hoping to see his older "no chick flick moments" brother squirm uncomfortably. Instead he saw Dean's horrified expression instead.

"Man," Dean moaned as he straightened and looked out the windshield.

"Well I could see you, kinda feel your presence," Sam started and shook his head. "But I really couldn't hear you."

Sam heard Dean shift again and glanced over. Dean had gone from horrified to unconvinced and Sam crumbled. He could never pull the wool over his brother's eyes, and he had definitely tried over the years. Sam swore it was one of Dean's superpowers. He just _always_ knew.

"Ok. I heard some stuff," he said softly.

"What stuff Sam?" Dean asked hearing the frustration in his voice. He hated when Sam answered without really answering. It would be so much easier if his brother would just say what he was thinking straight out instead of Dean pulling it out of him bit by bit.

Sam cleared his throat. "Um, well… I heard a little about Dad and my first girlfriend. Mostly I heard your voice on and off but I didn't get much of what you were saying."

Sam paused again and Dean couldn't help but roll his eyes slowly. "Sam just spit it out already," he growled slightly.

Sam sighed and cleared his throat. "I didn't know that about Mom," he said quietly.

Dean reached over and turned off the radio. He so couldn't do this over Metallica. Taking a steadying breath he looked directly at Sam. "You heard that, huh?"

"Yeah. I never… I mean… You told me what happened that night in very vague terms," Sam started.

"Christ Sam! You were seven years old when you cornered me about it and wouldn't be persuaded to let it go. What did you want anactual full colour play by play?" Dean said angrily.

"No!" Sam said incredulously then reigned in his emotions as best he could. "I just never thought about what it was like to go through it. I mean it was hard enough to hear the story you told me when I was a kid. I never thought about you living through it."

Dean snorted. "You still are a kid."

Sam rolled his eyes and sighed showing his frustration with this conversation. "I just… Thank you for telling me. It must have been hard to tell it and re-live it like that."

"S'alright Sammy. It's part of us and you should know," Dean said looking out the passenger window grimacing slightly.

"That's the thing, though. Whenever I asked you about Mom you always told me what you could remember. You told me what she looked like, what you did together and stuff," Sam said.

"Yeah," Dean said softly as he wrapped an arm around his chest. "I only remember so much, though. I wish I could remember more, that there was more to tell you."

Sam looked over at him with a serious expression then quickly averted his eyes back onto the road. He reached behind them into the back seat and pulled out a drug store bag. Keeping his attention on the road he passed the bag to his brother.

"So can we add rubber stretchy arms like that Fantastic Four dude to your arsenal of super powers?" Dean asked as he opened the bag.

"The long arms come with the superior height," Sam said lightly.

"Bitch," Dean growled good-naturedly. "OK now I know I was out for a while but when did this happen?"

"Two hours into the drive, you were already asleep and I needed something to keep me awake. I stopped at a coffee shop that had a drugstore next to it. Thought you'd need those at some point today," Sam said.

"Thanks man," Dean said as he pulled out the pain reliever and a bottle of water. He quickly opened the package and downed two of the white pills.

"So you wanna tell me what happened in that head of yours?" Dean asked.

"No," Sam said and Dean couldn't help but notice that he'd stiffened up again.

"Sammy," Dean said shaking his head. "That's so not the right answer. Try again."

Sam sighed heavily. "Dean I don't want to talk about it."

Dean shook his head. "Listen Missouri told me there was some seriously heavy stuff happening while you were locked in there. Sam you don't have to keep that to yourself, it had to hurt."

"Yeah some of it did," Sam said quietly.

"You saw Jessica, man I know that. You were seeing her, or something that looked like her before you went to sleep," Dean said.

"Victoria," Sam said. "She was living a nightmare."

"It must have been hard seeing her as Jessica," Dean prompted.

"Yeah it was, but I'm ok with it. Really I am," Sam said as he pulled off the highway and into a diner's parking lot.

"Sam," Dean started.

"Ok, maybe I'm not ok with it, but I'm not ready to talk about it either," Sam said and sighed. "It's kinda disjointed and I'm still trying to put some of the pieces together."

"Ok I can respect that. You know that when you're ready, even if it's 3am, you can talk to me about it, right? Dean said.

Sam smiled a genuine smile at his brother. "Yeah I know. Thanks man. But just remember you offered the early morning appointment."

Dean snorted and he had no doubt that at some point his brother would be waking him at 3am just to talk.

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They drove for the rest of the day before finally making it to the town wherethe Sandman was attacking children. They checked into a motel before going to the hospital.

"Dean they're not going to let us see Jason. According to this morning's paper he's still not talking. That kid is going to be watched over very carefully. Wards like the one he's in are always locked down," Sam said as they pulled into a parking stall.

"I know. We're not going to see Jason. We're going to pay a visit to his doctor's office," Dean said as he got out of the car catching his breath slightly on a flare of pain across his chest.

Glancing over at his little brother Dean hoped that Sam hadn't seen him react to his sore ribs. Sam didn't seem to have noticed becausehe was staring up at the cold looking cement building with the words Mercy Hospital written on it. They shared an unhappy glance. Both hated hospitals, visiting and staying, and slowly made their way into the building.

After a few wrong turns they eventually found the wing with the trauma patients. It was a closed ward, just like Sam had said. The fire doors were closed with big notices on each of them.

**Trauma Ward.**

**Authorized Personnel and Approved Visitors Only.**

**Everyone entering must check in with the duty nurse.**

They kept walking following the hallway around and came across two offices.

"Hey looks like we lucked out," Dean said as the offices were empty. "Hopefully they're on rounds or they've gone home for the night. Dude get us in."

"I still don't know why we're here," Sam said pulling out some skinny long tools and knelt in front of the door. Scowling slightly in concentration he inserted the tools and began picking the lock.

"It's simple Sam," Dean said looking down the hall to make sure no one was coming. "The medical file will have the information we need for tracking this sucker down."

The lock sprung and Sam opened the door. "If Jason isn't talking how is it going to have the information we need?"

Dean walked past him and into the office. "Lucas spoke volumes without saying a word," he said opening a filing cabinet.

Sam kept watch on the hallway as Dean pulled out the boy's medical file. He put the file on the desk and did a quick scan of the doctors written notes. Shuffling through the already thick file he paused as he found what he was looking for.

"Say hello to the Sandman," Dean said giving his little brother a cheesy grin. He held up a picture drawn in crayon so Sam could see it.

"Great. Let's go before someone comes," Sam said only glancing at the picture of a man wearing a white robe with a blue cloak for a second.

Dean picked up a few other pictures from the file and replaced the file into the cabinet. He folded the pictures up carefully and put them in his jacket pocket as he hurried out of the office.

Back at the motel room Dean dry swallowed some Tylenol as he laid the pictures out on the bed. There were three that had been brought back from the hospital and he studied them intently looking for any clues that could help them.

"Have you seen that guy before Dean?" Sam asked moving over from the table where he'd been working on the laptop and looked at the picture over his brother's shoulder.

"No, but he could be a Sandman," Dean said looking lost in thought.

"There's more than one Sandman?" Sam asked. "Kinda like the reapers?"

"Well why not?" Dean said picking up a picture. "What are these other things here?"

"What things," Sam said taking a closer look at the picture as well.

"These things hanging off his belt," Dean said pointing at the picture.

"Is that a crescent moon?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Maybe this is like an old iron key?" Dean said.

"An ancient one at that. Maybe it allows him access to any house?" Sam surmised.

"What about this here?" Dean said. "It looks like an old fashioned glass star."

"Yeah, it looks like its filled with sand," Sam suggested picking up one of the other pictures. "Maybe it's what he uses to keep them sleepy enough to move them to wherever he's keeping them so they won't call out and wake their families."

"Look here," Dean said pointing to the man's side. "He's armed. Hard to say if it's a knife or a sword."

"They've got to be important cause he's drawn another picture with those exact objects here," Sam said showing the picture to his brother. "But why?"

Dean took a closer look at the picture. "I don't know," he said quietly.

"He's got scars on his face that run under the beard," Sam said.

Dean shook his head and put the picture back onto the bed. "This really isn't getting us anywhere. It doesn't show what we really need," he said around a sigh.

"Did any of the articles say how Jason escaped or where?" Sam asked turning to the table and picking up that day's newspaper reviewing the article.

"It just said he was found wandering on a street. He was in shock and didn't know where he was. But he was calling his sister's name until the police arrived. Since then he hasn't said a word," Dean said.

"No street name?" Sam said.

"Nope," Dean said getting up and looking at the article he'd printed the day before. "But I'll bet there's only one Pop and Snack Depot in town," he said handing the article to Sam.

Sam looked at the picture from the article. Young Jason was there wrapped in a blanket standing beside an officer in front of the store. He looked up as Dean moved to the laptop doing a search on the stores.

"Well three stores aren't bad," he said writing down the addresses. "Let's check them out."

They drove to each store on the list, finding the right one on the second try. They drove around the area near the store but the houses did not match the picture Jason had drawn. They went to the last store as well checking the homes in the area, but none of them came close to the one in the picture.

Sam stared at the picture on the way back to the motel. It was a good drawing for a six year old, but most of the features were not completely defined. But there were areas that it was obvious Jason had taken pains to draw out right.

"Why do you keep staring at that picture?" Dean asked.

Sam sighed as he was brought out of his musings. "I was just thinking."

"That usually gets us into trouble," Dean said.

"No you usually get us into trouble running head first into things," Sam said putting the picture down on the bench seat and rubbing at his eyes. "Dean he's drawn moons on the house."

"I don't remember seeing moons on that house," Dean said as he pulled up to a light and stopped. He picked up the paper and looked at it.

"I don't know how I missed it earlier," Sam said taking the picture back as the light changed.

"You've been looking at it too long. I don't see them," Dean said.

"They are there," Sam insisted as Dean pulled into the motel and killed the motor.

Dean took the picture back from Sam looking closely at the picture again. He looked over at his brother. "I don't see it."

Sam glared daggers at his brother's back as Dean got out of the car. He sighed and got out of the car following his brother into their room.

"Look I'm telling you they are there," Sam said frustration creeping into his voice. He grabbed a water bottle off the table and held it out to Dean. "Look again."

Dean took the bottle of water from him. He looked from the water bottle back to his brother. "What do you want me to do with this Sam? Soak it down and hope the message suddenly appears?"

Sam rolled his eyes, snatched the bottle back and held it out diagonally in front of the picture. "It will magnify the image for you."

Dean nodded and tried it out. "Ok, yeah I see where you could think these were crescent moons. Nice job Sam."

Sam nodded and sat down on one of the beds. "It still doesn't help us, though."

"No, it could be helpful later. Right now we need to find this house," Dean said putting the picture on the table.

"Something else. The house looks old, right?" Sam asked looking up at his brother.

"Yeah, but there aren't many features to go on," Dean said.

"What if there is?" Sam asked. "What if the house is old enough to be in public records as a heritage house?"

"Look Sam it's not that great of a picture," he said shaking his head.

"No it isn't, but it's all we have. It's a two story really old estate. Dean I'm telling you if this city has the records it will be there," Sam said rubbing at his eyes again.

"What's wrong with you?" Dean asked not liking how Sam had been rubbing at his eyes for most of the day.

"It's nothing. Just a headache," Sam said waving off his concern.

"Leftover from before?" Dean asked.

"Yeah a little," Sam admitted reluctantly.

"Are you sure Sam," Dean asked wanting to press for more details, but willing to let his brother not talk about it, for now.

"It's just a headache. Just like you keep holding your side when you think I'm not looking," Sam said shaking his head. "Dean two days ago you fell down a well and bruised some ribs. Eventually you have to rest to heal. You can't run after some night demon in your condition."

"Yeah well Sammy we don't have much of a choice here, do we? We've got to stop this thing before another kid gets taken," Dean said.

"Yeah, I know," he said.

"Hey we always do what it takes to get the evil sons of bitches. No matter where or what they are," he said as he took the keys out of his pocket. "I'm going for some food. Need anything?"

Sam shook his head. "I could go for it," he offered knowing Dean was in more pain than he was letting on.

"Nah it's ok. It feels better right now to keep moving," Dean said then left.

Sam felt a wave of exhaustion break over him. It would have been so easy to lay back and fall asleep, but he fought against the urge. If he could figure out a way he was sure that he didn't want to sleep ever again. He got off the bed and settled at the table researching old homes in the area.

A short while later Dean returned with some fast food. He closed the motel room door as quietly as he could. Sam had fallen asleep at the table where he'd been working on the laptop. His head was resting on his arm and both hands were still on the keys of the laptop.

Dean pulled the laptop out from under Sam's fingers and put it on the bed. He pulled his food from the bag and settled himself on the bed looking through the page Sam had been in. It was on heritage homes in that county. Several pages of them. Dean started to go through the pictures and read the descriptions of them. Some of them had gone through extensive restorations or complete changes over the years. Many had pictures from when the homes went up to their current state. He was about half way through when Sam let out a scream.

"No!" Sam yelled standing so fast the chair fell back and he stumbled over it. He was breathing heavily and looking wildly about the room.

Dean got up as quick as he could and put a steadying hand on Sam's shoulder. "Hey."

He looked over at the touch on his shoulder. "Dean?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Bad one?" he asked.

Sam nodded and looked away trying to calm his breathing.

"Wanna tell me about it?" Dean asked as he reached down and righted the chair.

"I," Sam started then cleared his throat. "I'm not sure," he said closing his eyes and rubbing his head. He felt Dean guide him back into his chair. Then the comforting pressure of his brother's hands were gone. He heard Dean move away from him and then come back.

"Here," Dean said quietly.

Sam opened his eyes and saw Dean's hands in front of him. One contained two white tablets and the other had a glass of water. He shook his head and tried to push away his brother's hands. "I don't want those."

"Take them Sam. It'll help," Dean said.

Sam looked at his brother for a moment then took the pills and drained the water in one go.

"Now," Dean said sitting across from him. "Tell me."

Sam shook his head. "I don't know if I can. It didn't make much sense."

"Tell me anyway," Dean pressed.

"Well some of it was jumbled images from before when I couldn't wake up. Mom. Jess. Dad. You. There was something else," he said getting to his feet and starting to slowly pace the room. "Something else."

Dean watched him walk back and forth for a moment. "What else Sam?" he prompted filing away the small amount of information for a later discussion.

Sam rubbed his hands together as if he was cold while he paced. "Someone else? I don't know. It's too mixed up and muddled," he said stopping and pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes.

Dean got up and steered Sam over to his bed. "You need to take it easy."

"Don't let me sleep Dean, please," Sam pleaded as he allowed himself to be led to the bed.

"I hate to break it to you kiddo, but you need to sleep. Catching two hours here and four hours there just isn't healthy man," Dean said.

"You don't understand," Sam said as he felt his bed on the back of his legs and he sat down. Keeping his eyes closed his hands moved to his temple massaging them slightly trying to ease the pain.

"So explain it to me then. Because unless you're some kind of mutant, and the jury's still out about that, you need a lot more sleep than what you are getting," Dean said hoping for a glare or half smile from his brother.

"He was there," Sam said ignoring his brother's comment.

"Who?" Dean asked.

"The Sandman," he whispered.

"The Sandman?" Dean repeated then frowned. "Sam the Sandman goes to little children, not adults. And he goes to them before they go to sleep, not after."

The pain was slowly ebbing away and Sam pulled his hands away from his face. "I saw him Dean. He looked exactly like the picture Jason drew."

"You mean the white robe, blue cloak," Dean said.

"The rope belt with a sword, crescent moons, star filled with sand and an old iron key," Sam finished and looked at his brother. "He's real."

Dean was quiet for a moment as he digested the new information. "Where were you when you saw him?"

Sam shook his head and closed his eyes again. "It doesn't matter," he said quietly.

"Sam where?" Dean pressed.

Sam was quiet for a moment then opened his eyes and stared straight ahead. "Jessica's grave," he said quietly.

"What else was there?" Dean asked hoping to keep Sam focused on the conversation.

Sam's face scrunched up in confusion. "Beds. Rows and rows of beds where the headstones would be."

"Empty or full?" Dean asked.

"Some were empty some had children in them. Every child had a necklace with a crescent moon on it," Sam said before closing his eyes again and rubbing at his head.

Dean was quiet as he processed the information and realization slowly dawned on him. "That's good Sam," Dean said.

Sam opened his eyes and looked over at his brother. "What! How is that a good thing?" He yelled as his temper flared at the suggestion.

"It means the kids are given the necklaces to be bound to the Sandman. It's how he's keeping them asleep and in his realm," Dean said a grin spreading on his face. "It means those missing kids are still alive."

Sam yawned and closed his eyes. "What did you give me?"

"Aspirin. Look you can't fight it off forever. Just get some sleep," Dean said.

"But the kids," Sam protested softly half asleep.

"We'll find them all and bring them back home. Get some sleep. I'll wake you if I find anything," Dean said

He put a hand on Sam's shoulder pushing back ever so slightly. Sam stretched out on the bed and Dean watched over his brother until his breathing was deep and regular. He got up slowly and got out the extra blanket from the closet.

Sam flinched as Dean put the blanket over him. "You're safe Sammy. Nothing will hurt you here," he said hoping that somewhere in there he'd heard and would have one night of safe dreams.

Dean settled back on his bed putting the notebook on his lap and continued to look up the homes. He searched the website for hours, paying close attention to the homes that had been renovated over the years. He was almost giving up hope that he would find the answer a couple of hours later when he saw an estate that came close to the drawing of the house.

He shook his head. "This is it. What would I do without my side kick geek-brother?" he said wryly.

He got up a little quickly and sucked in his breath against the pain in his side. After dry-swallowing some Aspirin he looked over at Sam. He'd been sleeping so peacefully and soundly that he didn't want to wake him. Dean gave serious thought to leaving him behind on this one and letting Sam get the sleep he desperately needed. But even if he was at the top of his game he needed Sam to watch his back on this one.

He reluctantly leaned over Sam as he shook his shoulder lightly. "Sam," he said softly hoping not to startle him out of sleep. Sam tensed under his grip then opened his eyes slightly.

"Dean?" he said groggily.

"Yeah. We gotta go," he said.

Sam rubbed at his eyes sleepily. "You found it?"

"Would I be waking you otherwise? Now come on get up," Dean said straightening up and grabbing his jacket.

Sam slowly swung his feet over the side of the bed pulling the blanket off him at the same time. "How long did I sleep?" he asked around a yawn.

"Three to four hours," Dean said as he tossed Sam's jacket at him.

Sam put it on and followed Dean out the door. Dean revved the engine once and they sped away from the motel.

"The house has been completely renovated. Apparently the moon and star design were part of the original home and the new owner liked them so much he had new ones done to match," Dean said.

"When were the renovations completed?" Sam asked rolling down the window to help him wake up.

"Jeez dude that's cold," Dean complained pulling his jacket around him. "The renovations were done about a year ago. The owner moved in but didn't stay long. Local papers had a story about ghosts chasing them out."

"Well renovations have been known to wake a vengeful spirit," Sam said. "But I thought we were dealing with a demon here."

"We are. People can't always tell the difference like we can," Dean said. "The story in the paper said they had brought in psychics, none of who I recognized by the way so they must have been locals, but they didn't find anything."

They pulled up in front of a beautiful two story home.

"You tell me as soon as you feel anything, ok? I'm ninety nine percent sure that we're dealing with a demon, but just in case," Dean asked.

"Yeah," Sam said looking the house over, but not getting any strange vibes over it.

They dug through the weapons cache in the trunk of the car. Dean glanced up taking a look at the neighbourhood. No one seemed to be watching them. Sam moved the shotgun to put it down, but Dean took it from him and stowed it under his leather jacket.

"I'll never know how exactly you get it to stay there without some kind of holder," Sam said.

"Come on now Sam I can't possibly give away all my tricks now can I," Dean said smiling slightly back at his brother as he closed the trunk.

They approached the house stopping on the porch. Dean pulled Sam back from touching the door. "You stay with me at all times. No running off, no matter what you see, ok?"

Sam rolled his eyes. He was getting tired of the over protective brother speech. "Yes Dad. Look I can take care of myself."

Dean sighed. "Sammy I know you can take care of yourself. I just need to know you're not going to go running off anywhere, ok?"

Sam quickly went from annoyed to concerned. "Your ribs still bothering you?"

"A little," Dean admitted. "It's no big deal. It's just better to stay together on this one, ok?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, ok. By the way, it's Sam." He reached out for the door handle and twisted. The door was locked, but hepulled his hand back as if he'd been burnt.

"What is it?" Dean asked stepping closer to his brother protectively.

Sam smiled. "Nothing, just locked."

"Bitch," Dean said a little relieved that Sammy was joking with him again. Things were beginning to return to normal.

Sam went to work picking the lock and had the door open in minutes. Dean pushed past him walking in the door.

"Oh after you, I insist," Sam mumbled to himself as he pocketed his tools.

Dean popped his head out of the door. "You coming dude, or are you staying out here all night," he said then disappeared from sight.

Sam shook his head and walked into the house. He expected cobwebs or a lot of dust on the floor. What he found was an empty entrance way without dirt or cobwebs. Aside from having no furniture the house looked like it could have been cleaned that day. He hurried over to where Dean was waiting for him at the base of some stairs.

"Feel something? Dean asked mistaking Sam's curiosity at the home for something supernaturalin the home.

Sam shook his head. "No, nothing unusual."

Dean pulled out the E.M.F. reader and gave it to Sam. "Not that I don't believe in your abilities," he said.

"Yeah I know," Sam said as he turned it on. Nothing appeared on the read-out. "Clean."

Dean nodded. "Ok. We'll go from top to bottom," he said turning from Sam and starting up the stairs. He paused half way looking through the slats of the wooden banister? to ensure nothing was waiting for them. The hallway looked empty and he continued up the rest of the way.

They cautiously went from room to room, but there was nothing in them, no furniture, no children. They slowly made their way downstairs listening for any noise or movement coming from below. No noise was heard and they continued on to the main floor. They checked the living room, dining room, kitchen and family room. All rooms were empty, devoid of furniture or life. It looked like a nice, normal family home.

They stood in the empty living room.

The boys looked at their feet as distinct noises were heard below them.

"I thought you said there wasn't a basement," Sam said.

"What the," Dean said. "There was no basement on the blueprints."

"Well there should be an entry way to it somewhere," Sam said. "There were two closets in the kitchen right?"

Sam headed back to the kitchen Dean following close behind. "What if one of these is not a closet but a stairway?" Sam asked.

"Dude, we looked in them already. They're empty," Dean said.

"Well we looked at them, but we really didn't check them," Sam said heading for the closet farthest away. He looked back to see Dean look in the closer one. He heard him knocking on the walls, hearing a solid sounding thunking.

"I got nothing," Dean said as Sam opened the pantry and took a step into it. All there was on the three walls were shelves from top to bottom.

Sam reached in between the shelves and knocked on the wall. A solid thunk was heard. He did the same with the other wall with the same results. He heard Dean behind him as he knocked on the back wall. It echoed.

"Found it," he said looked back at his brother. He pushed and pulled on the shelves and the brackets. Dean tried as well and nothing happened.

"Is there a light Sam?" Dean asked still trying the brackets.

Sam shone his flashlight over the outside of the frame and then on the inside. There were two light switcheson the inside of the wall. One was taped over, the other was open. Sam flicked on one, but nothing happened. Peeling back the tape he flicked on the second switch. There was a groan and the back wall moved slightly. The paint cracked along the seams and chips of paint fell off the wall where it had separated.

Dean pushed on the shelves with his shoulder and abruptly pulled back. He sucked in a pain filled breath. "Ok college boy, lets see how strong you are," he said taking a step back allowing Sam back into the pantry.

Sam gave him a concerned look before he pushed the wall back. He shone his flashlight into the darkness and saw an old rickety wooden stairwell that descended into darkness. He looked back at his brother smiling then took a step forward.

"Since when do you go first?" Dean said pulling Sam back and shaking his head. He pulled out the shot gun from where he'd stashed it under his arm and started forward before he also was pulled back.

"What are you doing?" Sam demanded.

"What do you think I'm doing genius? I'm demon hunting," Dean retorted.

Sam took a deep calming breath before telling his brother off. "Dean there could be children down there. What if you shoot one of them instead?"

"I won't. Besides this is for their protection as well as ours," he said pulling his arm out of Sam's grip and taking the first step down the stairs. He grimaced at the growing pain in his side glad Sam was behind him so he couldn't see it.

Sam shone his flashlight ahead of Dean so he could see where they were going. They were almost all the way down the stairs when there was a loud crack and Dean began to fall. Sam dropped the flashlight grabbing his brother and the rail at the same time.

Dean swallowed the yelp of pain as best he could, and brought his leg out of the broken stairlooking for solid wood. He found it, Sam let go and he was down two more steps and back on solid ground. He bent over at the new flare of pain erupting in his side.

"Dean? You ok?" Sam asked.

Dean grabbed the flashlight from the floor and shone it near Sam's face. His brother was pale and worried.

"Nice catch Sam," he said panting then gave him back the flashlight. "I just need a minute."

Sam nodded unconvinced that his brother was ok. He knew that as long as Dean could breathe, walk and wasn't bleeding everywhere he would continue the hunt. So he didn't press the issue, just gave him the time he needed.

Sam looked around to make sure nothing threatening was around them. He found that they had come into a long narrow hallway with doors on either side of them. He could see eight doors on either side of his flashlight beam, but it didn't penetrate the length of the hallway.

Dean straightened up slowly as the pain became bearable. He looked down the hallway where Sam's light was pointed.

"You want to try door number one or door number two?" Sam asked moving the light back to either side of them.

Dean opened the one on his left. There were ten beds in all in the room, five on each wall and all were empty. He turned around and Sam opened the door on his right. There were also ten beds in this room, just like the last one, but two were occupied. A soft glow from a crescent shaped light lit their small slumbering faces. They both went to a child and tried to wake them.

"Dean I can't get her to wake up," Sam said after trying to talk to her quietly and shaking her shoulder gently.

Dean glanced over at his brother and saw that he was doing the same thing that he had just tried to wake the little boy.

"He won't wake up either," Dean said quietly.

"She has a necklace," Sam noted quietly as he looked down at her. She looked to be all of five years old with dark curly hair spilling out over the white pillow.

Dean had noticed the necklace around the young boy's neck. "That must be the key. Try to get it off," Dean suggested.

Sam reached down and tried to remove the necklace but it wouldn't break and he couldn't find the clasp.

Dean tried to remove the necklace from the young boy as well, but his wouldn't break either.

"We'll have to find the alter and destroy it," Dean said moving away from the child in the bed and going towards the door.

Sam knelt next to the small figure in the bed. "If you can hear me we'll be back to help you," he said quietly to the little girl.

Dean followed him out of the room and they looked through several more rooms. Some had children and others were still empty. Dean tried another door and was surprised to find it locked.

"Hey," Dean said getting Sam's attention who was looking in the room on his right side. "It's locked. Get us in."

"Since when do you really need me to pick the lock?" Sam asked.

"Since you're better at it," Dean said taking the flashlight from Sam and holding it up so Sam could work. He put his hand on his side as if it would stop the pain emanating from his bruised ribs. He dropped it as soon as Sam started to stand back up.

Sam looked at his brother as he flicked his wrist and opened the door. The room was bathed in candle light. In the middle of the room was a wooden table covered in a blue velvet cloth. They walked into the room and found the cloth was covered in a sprinkling of sand, a smattering of dried blood, small child-sized bones, old fashioned iron keys, small bronze coloured moons and stars. Standing above them on small stands were one big crescent moon, a sand filled star and an iron key.

"Look at this," Dean said disgusted and sickened by the small child-sized bones on the table.

"We have to destroy it," Sam said shaking his head equally disgusted. No matter how many alters they'd seen and destroyed it was always harder when it involved children.

"Right," Dean said reaching out to the large crescent moon planning to destroy that first.

A child's cry was heard coming from outside the room. The boys traded a look and hurried to the door frame cautiously peering around it. One of the doors a little further down the hallway was open and a soft light spilled out of the room. They silently crept down the hallway as fast as they could Dean in the lead. He looked into the room saw a person in a blue cloak looming over a child who had just been placed in a bed.

Sam peered around Dean and saw the Sandman's latest addition to his collection. The child looked like she was sleeping, her wet tear stained cheeks shone in the soft glow of the light. The cloaked man was murmuring an incantation over the child. As he finished a necklace floated down and encircled the child's neck silently, effectively locking the little one into the dream world.

Sam felt his anger rise inside of him. "Hey! Why don't you try that on someone more your size."

Dean raised an eyebrow surprised that the words hadn't come out of him.

The Sandman's head turned slowly and locked eyes with Dean as he straightened.

"You dare to challenge me?" the cloaked man demanded.

"Oh hell yeah," Dean replied.

The Sandman was quiet for a moment before giving a hearty deep laugh.

"Ah yes. The tough Winchester boys. Come further into the light my children," he beckoned softly.

The brothers quickly shared a look and Dean swaggered into the room with Sam on his heels.

"Tell me young Samuel are my brothers entertaining you enough?" the Sandman asked.

"What?" Dean asked.

Sam said nothing but stared back at the demon shivering slightly under the cold stare.

"Do you enjoy these gifts?" he asked again raising a hand towards Sam.

Sam paled as he was assaulted with images of his nightmares. His mom and Jessica burning on the bedroom ceilings screaming for his help. No matter what he did he could not get to them. His father an empty shell of a man with a drink in his hand never having caught the demon responsible for killing his mother. Softly repeating over and over Sam why did you leave us? We could have got the son of a bitch with you. Dean lying dead in a pool of blood at his feet because he was too late to save him. He saw himself cold and alone in a small room sitting on the floor with a straight jacket on as he murmured incoherent words and rocked slightly.

"You sick bastard," Dean snarled.

"No!" Sam shouted as he raised his hands to his head desperately fighting back the pictures.

"It's not real Sammy. Fight it," Dean commanded as he grabbed his brothers arms.

The images slowly faded away as Sam felt Dean grab his arm drawing him back to reality. He pulled his hands away from his head blinking rapidly and taking a couple of steadying breaths. "I'm ok," he said quietly to his brother.

Dean turned his attention back to the Sandman. "This ends tonight."

The Sandman laughed again. "That may be, but usually I must search out my quarry, it doesn't usually come willingly into my home."

Dean pointed the shotgun at him. "Your quarry will not come easily," he said cocking the gun.

"There's no fun without the fight," he said throwing off his blue cloak and tossing it on a bed. His belt made tinkling noises from the metal objects banging into each other.

Dean fired and the Sandman easily moved out of the way before the shot reached him.

The Sandman laughed again raising Dean's ire. "Is that all you brought?" he taunted slowly unsheathing a short sword making fine grains of sand fall to the ground.

"Damn," Dean whispered. This was going to be a little trickier than he thought. He heard Sam's jacket rustle slightly beside him and saw a glint of light flash off the demon.Well at least one of them was bright enough to bring a knife. He hoped it was a large one.

Sam shoved the familiar handle of a blade into Dean's hand. Dean grabbed at it tightly and brought his hands into his fighting stance smiling inwardly. Leave it to his baby brother to bring his favourite blade. His inner grin grew as the cocky smile on the demons face slowly fell. A glint of light in his peripheral vision told him Sam had brought another blade with him.

The Sandman moved away from the child in the bed and slowly advanced on the brothers. As he advanced he pulled out a small wooden staff. The demon stopped sizing up the boys ready for the fight.

The brothers sized up the demon also ready for the fight, surprised that none was forthcoming.

"What are you waiting for," Dean growled.

The Sandman smiled serenely. "I do not require violence," he said as two necklaces rose from his belt and moved quickly towards the boys.

Sam watched the metal come towards him. When it was close enough he lunged with his knife. Metal on metal contact created a wave of sparks and a small whirlwind of sand. A second wave of sparks and sand erupted beside him as Dean destroyed the necklace coming at him.

"Keep your cheap parlour tricks for the kids," Sam spat at him.

"As you wish," the demon said and his eyes glowed fiery red. "The hard way."

Sam swallowed and saw Dean tense a bit beside him. Both gripped their knives tightly.

"Bring it on, bitch," Dean said quietly.

The Sandman moved forward fluidly bringing up his sword to strike Dean who avoided the blow. Sam brought his knife up to stop the staff from striking his brother. Dean swung and hit the Sandman square in the jaw. His hand bruising with the impact and the demon staggered back a step.

Sam stepped forward swinging his blade at the chest of the night demon missing by mere inches. The Sandman reached out grabbed Sam by the arm and shoved him away violently. Sam stumbled at the force and rolled over a bed.

Dean was in his place a second later landing a kick to the Sandman's knee and then struck out at his head. Although Dean knew he'd made contact with the demon it just laughed at his efforts and then lashed out. He hit Dean square in the chest and then hit him twice in the face.

Sam shook his head slightly as he got onto his knees and used the bed to help him up. He rushed forward to rejoin the fight.

The Sandman swung a powerful blow to Dean's arm with his staff then threw Dean across the room. He hit the wall hard and collapsed to his knees trying to get his breath back. He wiped at the blood on his forehead, wondering momentarily when he'd been cut, then looked up to see where Sam was.

Sam landed blows to the demon's head and body, but it didn't seem to make a difference. He jumped up as the Demon swung his staff low. Sam hit the ground and managed a slice to the Demon's arm. The Sandman swung around and hit Sam across the leg hard making him stumble slightly. Sam came right back, swung his knife, missed his chest but the blade glanced off the key hanging off his belt. It barely moved from the touch, but the Sandman roared with anger. The Sandman swung the staff around hard to Sam's chest.

Dean struggled to his feet as Sam doubled over against the pain. He ran to his brother's side grabbing the Sandman's arm stopping him from cutting his brother with the sword. He felt anger growing in him. It usually did while they were fighting and Sam was in danger. Over the years he'd learned to channel that anger into his fight making his moves faster and more agile. He steered the demon away from his brother. His concentration never wavered but relief filled him when Sam was fighting beside him once again.

They traded blows with the demon but no matter how many shots got through the demon did not show he'd been hurt. Both brothers were beginning to notice that the Sandman protected the items on his belt more than the blows getting though to his body.

Dean struck out with his knife hoping to cut an item away from the belt. The demon neatly avoided the blade and brought his staff down on Dean's unprotected side. The already bruised and slightly swollen area buckled under the blow. Dean screamed in pain and fell to his knees. He curled up and rolled back slightly waiting for the next painful blow, but it never came.

"NO!" Sam yelled stepping in front of his brother. He put both hands on the demon's chest and shoved for all he was worth. The demon was unprepared for such an attack. He stumbled back loosing his balance as he fell onto a bed.

Sam was on the demon before it could regain its balance. He swung his blade barely catching the Sandman across his cheek and leapt back as the Sandman swung his own blade. The sword missed its mark and he struggled to his feet. A surprised look crossed his face and he reached up to touch his cheek. Blood oozed out of the cut and slowly slid down his skin.

Sam used that moment of surprise to help Dean back onto his feet. His brother swayed slightly then seemed to regain his balance. Sam stepped forward putting himself between Dean and the Sandman.

Sam lunged trying to hit the sand filled star on the demon's belt. His sword deflected off the glassand the demon roared again bringing his sword around. Sam lifted his knife up in defence but it shattered on contact. He cried out as the Sandman's sword sliced into his upper arm.

His right hand immediately reached up to cover the wound. Blood had already soaked through the light material of his torn t-shirt and jacket. He staggered back his eyes wide with fear.

"Sam!" Dean yelled as he saw his brother get cut then stagger back. He blinked as the room's glow seemed to change from soft yellow to bright red and felt blinding rage fill him. The demon bastard had hurt his baby brother that he'd sworn to protect. He screamed something unintelligible and lunged attacking the demon.

Sam heard his brother shout his name, but even though Dean was two steps away from him it sounded like it came from far away. His arm throbbed and he began to shake. He felt like he was going to be sick and his world began to spin. The wall made contact with his back and his legs couldn't seem to hold him up as he slid slowly down the flat surface. He pulled his blood soaked hand away from his shoulder. Even though he'd been around blood all his life during training and hunting somehow he was surprised at how red it looked and for a moment he was transfixed by the colour. A clanging noise from metal on metal made Sam looked up to see Dean fighting the Sandman. His brother's eyes were cold with anger, his face flush from the adrenaline.

"Dean," he whispered but couldn't finish. Fear chilled him as he realized he was falling asleep. He looked back at his hand and realized that his blood had mixed with something gritty. His mind sluggishly came to the conclusion that the sword had been coated with sand and he was falling asleep. He fought against it even as his arm fell to his side now to heavy to hold up.

He struggled to keep his eyes open but they closed of their own accord and he fell into darkness.

The Sandman laughed. "He will have the pleasure of knowing my realm. You shall be next."

"Like Hell," Dean growled.

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Sam heard creaking floorboards and whispers around him. He cracked an eye open and saw children nearby watching him and whispering to each other behind small hands.

A young boy of about 10 years old stepped out from the crowd and looked down at Sam. Sam closed his eyes as a wave of pain washed over him and swallowed a groan. The young boy silently knelt beside Sam and with shaking hands tried to pull off the torn jacket.

"What?" Sam said his words slurred with sleep. "Dean?"

"Jeremy," the little boy said quietly. "My name is Jeremy. Please let me take off your jacket."

Sam leaned forward and felt the jacket taken off him gently. "Where am I?"

The young boy did not answer him. "My daddy is a doctor and I watch him patch people up all the time," he said and there was no mistaking the pride in the youngster's voice.

Sam felt the sleeve of his shirt being pulled up and he struggled to open his eyes.

"It will be ok," the boy said quietly to reassure him as he brought up a white cloth and wiped down Sam's wound. "I just need to get some of this sand out."

Sam slowly began to open his eyes as some of the sand was removed. The pain began to dissipate as well. He looked over to see the boy putting down a red cloth that had small dots of sand in it andpull out a fresh one from his small bag. He watched as the boy wrapped the cloth around his arm to cover his wound.

"Thank you," Sam said quietly to him.

Jeremy looked into Sam's eyes and looked like he wanted to say something then changed his mind. He nodded at him, picked up his bag and walked back into the crowd of children.

"Jeremy wait," Sam said to the boy's retreating back.

"Thank you Jeremy," a slightly older girl said to him as he walked past her. She turned her attention to Sam.

"Where am I?" Sam asked hoping that one of the children would answer.

"Why do you not carry his mark?" the girl demanded.

"Mark? Whose mark?" Sam repeated as his brow furrowed in confusion. "Who are you and where am I."

The girl ignored his question and turned to the children who were watching Sam with open fascination and curiosity. "He is not one of us."

With those few simple words the children's curiosity and fascination turned to fear and they quickly fled the room.

"Wait!" Sam called to them as he struggled to his feet relieved to see a few children had stayed behind.

"You have been sent to the Sandman's realm. We are all bad children and have been brought here as our punishment. We cannot leave and we will never wake. We will never see our brothers, sisters or parents again. When the chains that bind us here grow too small we will parish," said the one older boy who had stayed behind.

A little girl who looked about five years old held the boy's hand. She tilted her head as she looked up at Sam then hopped over to him. She stood by his leg looking straight up at him. Sam knelt to be on her level.

"Hi," he said softly to her.

She pulled her thumb out of her mouth and pointed at his neck. "No."

Sam smiled slightly. "Yeah I don't belong here, do I?"

The girl shook her head, her dark curls bobbing with the movement. "Not scary man."

Sam's smile broadened. "Well I sure hope I'm not scary," he said quietly to her.

"Have you replaced him," the boy asked.

Sam smiled at the young girl then stood up. "No. My brother and I came here to free you."

The older children looked at each other and hope replaced the fear in their eyes.

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

-1Dream-State

Chapter 4

By infinite shadow

Disclaimer: Supernatural and any recognizable elements or characters in this story belong to the WB, CW and al. I did not make any money from this so please don't sue.

Author's notes: Thank you to my friend lynxlan for the patient betaing of this story. It's appreciated my friend.

I had said earlier that this was going to be a four chapter story. Well it's gonna be five chapters now. I wasn't happy with the actual ending so I wasn't going to post this instalment until I returned from vacation. But I didn't want to leave everyone hanging for three weeks. So hopefully this will do until I return. It's the best I could do.

I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think. I live for feedback!

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Dean fought like a man possessed. This _thing_ had hurt his baby brother and by God it was going down tonight if he had anything to say about it. The only problem was he was beginning to tire. He had made several good hits and slices, the demon was bleeding from several places now, but none of it seemed to slow it down. The adrenaline that had kept him going in the fight was starting to wear off and the pain in his side was pulling his attention away from his opponent.

The Sandman lunged and Dean quickly back pedaled until he hit the wall with his back. He lurched to the side as the demon brought his blade down and just barely missed the hunter. The sword sparked as it collided with a bed frame on the way down. Dean swung his knife and caught the Sandman in the side. Bright red blood seeped into the white robe. Adding more red splotches to the others already decorating the light fabric.

"Your brother will never wake. He will last only a short time in my realm before he dies," the demon taunted with a smile.

"That's what you think. Sam will wake up tonight. He's faced harder odds before and survived. As long as I'm breathing he'll survive," Dean said somewhat grateful for the verbal sparring. It was letting him get his breath back.

"Then your life will be extinguished shortly. I grow tired of this game. It ends tonight," the Sandman said.

Dean snorted. "Of course it ends tonight. Why do you think I'm here freak. Your time tormenting these kids is over and I've got your one way ticket to hell."

Dean lunged out with his knife and got lucky. He hit the iron key and it fell away from the Sandman's belt. The antique key broke into pieces as it hit the floor. The demon shook as if he had been physically struck and staggered back.

"You will pay for that!" he roared at Dean as his eyes glowed red with anger.

Dean rolled his eyes at the Sandman. It was all the energy he had to spare for a smart ass remark.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The young girl stepped forward her eyes hopeful but her stance wary. Sam noticed that she had placed herself in between him and the boy. It was something he'd seen Dean do countless times over the years.

"I'm Michelle and this is Bill," the young girl said quietly motioning to the boy behind her. "We have been here the longest. Please come with us."

Sam looked down at the little girl next to him as she grabbed his hand.

"I'm Lora," she whispered.

Sam smiled down at her and realized that she was the young one he'd promised to help when he couldn't remove her crescent moon necklace. "Sam," he whispered back.

The little girl giggled, pulled her hand out of his and scurried from the room. Michelle and Bill followed her out and headed down the hallway.

Sam walked out of the room and looked down the hall. He looked back to the room he'd just left to the door the children had stopped in front of. It seemed to be the same distance away as the alter room had been when Sam had been awake. The room that Dean had made him pick the lock on. Wondering about the possible connection and implication he hurried to join the Michelle and Bill there.

"None of us can enter this room," Michelle said reaching out for the door.

"We cannot even grab the handle or touch the door," Bill added as they watched Michelle's hand stop an inch in front of the door.

"It's sorta like a force field out of Star Trek. It doesn't hurt to touch it. In fact its kinda feels like pins and needles," Michelle said and sighed slightly as she pulled her hand back. "We can't find a way around it. But it must be important cause when the Sandman comes he comes out of this room."

Sam watched her pull her hand away and rub at it absently. He looked at the closed door and frowned slightly as he considered the options. If it opened for him would he wake up? He needed to get back to Dean and the fight. But he also had to find the way to help these kids. What if opening the door had an opposite reaction? What if opening the door hurt the children in some way? Sam shook his head.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Bill demanded. "She's hurting."

"I don't want to die," Michelle said quietly.

"None of you are going to die," Sam said firmly. "Where did you get that idea from?"

"She bears the death mark," Bill said.

"Death mark?" Sam asked his eyebrows going up into his forehead.

"Show him," Bill said grabbing Michelle's arm.

Michelle looked from Bill to Sam. She nodded as she reached up and pulled the neck of her shirt down slightly. There as clear as day was a red raw ring that looked like it encircled her neck.

"It is the mark of death from the Sandman. My time is coming to and end," she said softly.

"I don't want her to die," Bill said his eyes wide with fear as he shuffled a little closer to her. "Please!"

Sam looked at the raw ring on her neck. "The crescent moon necklaces. When the chains get too small you die," he said as the pieces fell into place for him.

"I don't want my sister to die. I'll be good, or take me in her place. Please don't let her die," Bill said as a few tears slipped down his cheeks.

"Hey it's ok," Michelle said softly pulling her arm out of his grasp and putting it around his shoulders pulling him against her.

Sam looked down to the boy his heart breaking slightly for him. He understood. He would die for Dean without thinking about it, without regrets if it meant his brother got to live. He reached out and brushed away the tears. "I won't let her die. I won't let you die either. I promise."

Bill studied him for a moment and nodded before leaning against his sister.

Sam took a deep breath, reached out and as soon as his hand touched the door handle it swung open. Inside the room was an alter exactly as it had been when he and his brother had found the other one. Sam looked at the siblings who looked into the room with curiosity.

"Keep everyone away. I have to destroy the alter. Nothing may happen but in case it does I don't want anyone getting hurt," he said to them.

Michelle nodded, squeezed her brother and pulled her arm away before hurrying off.

Bill stayed for a moment watching his sister walk away. When he was sure she was out of earshot he turned to Sam.

"Even if this doesn't work, and you can't help her, I just wanted to say thanks for trying," he said then turned from him and hurried after Michelle.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dean stepped back to avoid the Sandman's blade as it swung dangerously close to his midsection. He brought his own blade around catching the demon on his arm.

"That's for Sammy you bastard," he said panting slightly.

The demon didn't even flinch at the cut as he brought the staff down on Dean's unprotected side for the second time. Dean screamed as he swore he felt one or two of his ribs break and he sank to the floor as the pain overwhelmed him.

He struggled to keep conscious and breathe against the pain. A murmuring voice above him made him open his eyes. A floating necklace was slowly descending towards his neck.

"NO!" he yelled as he quickly brought up his blade. The necklace shattered and Dean closed his eyes so none of the sand would land in his eyes.

"Soon stubborn one. You will join your brother," the Demon said. "Soon your life will end. That moment will bring me much pleasure."

"Bite me," Dean said. He kicked out with his leg catching his opponent off guard. The Sandman fell backwards having his knees buckle as his feet were swept out from underneath him. Dean used the moment to struggle to his knees.

He wiped a hand over his mouth surprised to see blood on his hand. "Bastard," he growled.

Panting and swearing against the pain in his side Dean struggled to find his feet. The Sandman recovered quicker than he did and using his staff he landed several quick painful blows before Dean could recover fully.

The hunter screamed at the sudden additional pain in his chest, arm and head. Dean fell bonelessly to the floor. All he could do was breathe and kept a precarious grip on his consciousness.

"Your brother is mine forever now. You have failed him," the demon said as he towered over Dean's limp form on the ground. "You will live and stay awake long enough to see him die. Then you will join him in his death."

Dean almost allowed himself to pass out welcoming the pain free darkness. He heard the demon's voice and tried to process what he had just said over the pain in his head. Then the voice was gone and Dean almost let himself go in the sudden quiet.

"Bind the boy to my realm for as long as he draws breath. Bind the boy's soul to my realm for all time…"

Dean had almost passed out but a murmuring voice nearby kept him from giving up. His battered brain finally realized what was happening. SAM! His mind screamed at him. The demon was still after Sam.

Dean's eyes opened slightly and saw the night demon crouched over Sam. He was beginning an incantation over his brother as a crescent moon necklace hovered just above Sam's head.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sam watched them walk away to make sure they were really out of the way. He took a deep breath and entered the room. Glancing over the table he reached underneath it and yanked hard crying out at the pain that shot through his arm when the table didn't budge. He held his arm for a moment as a thought occurred to him and he smiled slightly. Moving to the side of the table he grabbed the ends of the velvet cloth.

"Always wanted to do this," he said quietly. He gave a yank and everything crashed to the floor.

The candles lining the room snuffed out, the door slammed closed and children's voices could be heard calling out in fear.

Sam staggered and fell to his knees. He dropped the velvet cloth and brought his hands up to his head. His world began to spin in the darkness and he screamed as pain seared his brain.

He could see Dean battling the Sandman and he was losing. His face was bloody from many cuts and one arm hung limp at his side. The Sandman hit him with his staff and Dean went down. The demon smiled as he allowed him to struggle to his knees then gave a mighty thrust with his sword.

Dean's eyes bulged in shock as he looked down where the sword stuck out of his chest. As he looked back up to his killer blood began to seep from his mouth. Then his eyes lost their focus and his body went limp and sunk down to the floor.

Sam screamed his brother's name and then his nightmare faded out. Darkness enfolded him making him disoriented and claustrophobic. He reached out and found the wall. Moving over to it he curled up with his back to the wall. He wrapped his arms around his legs.

"Oh God please don't let that be real," he sobbed quietly resting his head on his knees.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dean struggled to his feet his eyes never leaving the evil that loomed over his brother. He moved as fast as he could, his knife out and ready. Metal struck metal as his blade destroyed the crescent moon necklace that had been meant for his brother. He collided with the demon bringing them both down to the ground.

Dean rolled away from the demon making sure he kept his grip on the weapon. He used the momentum to roll to his knees and threw the blade into the Sandman's arm. The demon screamed as he lost his grip and dropped his jewelled sword.

Dean almost screamed himself at the nauseating pain that emulated from his side. He did his best to put it out of his mind concentrating on finding another weapon. Glancing around he saw the demon's sword had slid near him. Gasping in pain he leaned down and picked it up. He reached out and used the wall to steady him as he got to his feet.

Stars danced in his sight and he blinked several times before they went away. The Sandman had used this time to pull the blade from his arm and toss it away.

Hunter and Demon stood before each other, resizing the other up and waiting for their opponent to make the next move.

Dean smiled with satisfaction as he took in the demon's state. "You look like crap."

"I will recover in a matter of hours. You will die tonight," the Sandman said angrily.

"We'll see about that," Dean said and brought the blade up slightly.

The Sandman paled slightly. Dean lurched forward and weaved to the side in time to avoid a swing from the demon. He twisted and swung out at the demon's side cutting through the demon's belt. It fell to the ground shattering the glass star that held the sand and the rest of the crescent moon necklaces broke making pieces scatter all over the floor.

"NO!" the Sandman shouted.

Dean made one final lurch and jammed the sword into the demon's chest.

The demon made no sound as he fell onto his knees. A look of wonder and surprise was on his face as he tried to say words. His mouth moved but nothing came out except a trickle of blood. Then his eyes closed and he fell forward onto his chest pushing the blade further inuntil the end stuck out of his back.

Dean swallowed reflexively against the nausea burning the back of his throat. He took a couple of shallow breaths to combat the dizziness that made the room tilt and spin. "Keep it together. You're not done yet," he said as he realized he was shaking badly.

He looked over at his brother who was crumpled against the wall. There was a trail of blood that ran down the wall ending near at his brother's bloody arm.

"Hold on Sammy. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere," he said quietly. There was one more thing left to do and if he didn't he was afraid that his brother may never wake up.

Dean slowly made his way out of the room and down the hallway. He entered the alter room and stood before it. Knowing he no longer possessed the strength to upend the table he settled on pushing the three larger items off their stands to the floor. Then he grabbed the velvet cloth and walked away from the table. His wounds screamed at him, but he smiled as he heard therest of the items on the alter crash to the ground.

He made it to the door frame and leaned against it panting. He hurt everywhere, he was bleeding freely in several places and every breath sent sharp pains through his chest and down his arms like an electrical current. All he wanted to do was collapse right there, but he couldn't allow himself the luxury of passing out. Sam needed him and he needed his little brother.

Dean leaned on the wall all the way back to the room. He was shaking badly from the effort and as he turned into the room he lost the support of the wall and fell to his knees. He crawled the rest of the way to his brother hoping he'd be awake by the time he got back to him. All hopes were dashed as he got close and realized that his brother's eyes were still closed.

He propped himself up against the wall next to Sam. A glance of the room confirmed that the Sandman was gone. Permanently. The white robe speckled with blood and rips was there buried in a long pile of sand exactly where he'd left the demon. It was over, he hoped.

Dean rested his head back on the wall. "Sammy you have to stop running off on the job," he said as his shoulder brushed Sam's tensing slightly as his brother whimpered at the contact.

Without thinking Dean lifted his arm and placed it around his little brother's shoulders. It was an ingrained automatic response and Dean hissed at the pain the movement caused. A gentle pull had his brother resting against his side, his head nestled into his shoulder.

"I remember when you were little. Dad was out most nights hunting something or researching something. We were always moving and you were always having nightmares about the new house, new people or whatever we'd just hunted. You'd always run into my room and jump up into my bed. Always whispering what your nightmares were just in case they heard you and followed you," Dean fell silent for a moment just trying to breath against the pain in his side.

"I gotta tell ya kiddo I kinda miss the days when I could throw my arm around you and it would chase all the demon's away. Or all problems could be solved by saying because I said so, or because Dad said so. Or my favourite I'm the oldest. Do what I say or I'll tickle you to death," Dean said then stopped as the pain became unbearable.

"I hated that one the most," Sam said his voice slightly muffled by Dean's shirt as he woke up.

Dean smiled a little. "I know. Why do you think I used it so much?" he said relief evident in his voice.

Sam straightened up lifting is head off Dean's chest. "You look terrible," he said his voice slurring the words slightly as he fought to totally wake up.

"Well that's what happens when you fall asleep on the job," Dean said then ruffled Sam's hair a little. "Damn Sam you need a haircut."

Sam's comeback was interrupted when creaking caught their attention. They looked up to the doorway and saw children gathering there. Most looked scared or unsure, but a few were crying. A little one broke free of the crowd and happily ran into the room.

"Sam!" she said happily then her smile faded into a scowl as she saw Dean.

Sam couldn't help but smile. "Lora this is my brother Dean."

Lora slowly walked over to the injured man. She stuck out a little finger pointing to his face. "Owie?" she asked.

"Nah I'm all right," Dean said shaking his head but at the little one's look of disbelief he crumbled. "Ok, maybe a little."

"Lora do you think you could find Bill for me?" Sam asked.

The little girl nodded making her curls bob with the motion. Then she rushed out of the room yelling Bill and Michelle at the top of her lungs as she ran down the hallway.

"Bill?" Dean asked.

"A child I met while I was sleeping," Sam replied.

"Something you want to tell me Sammy?" Dean asked looking askew at his brother.

"I'll tell you all about it later. You ok? How bad is your owie?" Sam asked.

"Dude, they fry your brain while you were sleeping?" Dean asked as he ran a hand over his brother's head. "Or maybe you've just hit your head one time too many."

Sam laughed as he gently pushed Dean's arm away from him then stood up as Michelle and Bill came into the room. Lora had each of their hands in hers and she was pulling them forward. Michelle's throat was showing a raw red ring on it confirming that she would have died soon from the necklace.

"Sam! You're ok!" Bill said.

"Yeah, but I need your help," Sam said.

"Whatever it is, you have it," Michelle said hoarsely.

Sam looked down to his brother then back up to the older children. "We have to tell the children a story to tell the police when they arrive and then I'm going to need help to get Dean out of here."

Bill nodded. "We all know what to say already. Two men saw one of us kids get taken onto this house, right Lora?"

"Yup. You followed us into the room where you fought the mean bad man. But you gots hurt bad. Lots and lots of owies," the little girl said sadly actually tearing up and letting a few tears slip down her cheeks. Then the tears abruptly stopped and she smiled at them.

"You couldn't wait for the police or ambulance so you left to get medical attention," Michelle finished her voice a little stronger.

Bill shrugged at the surprised looks on their faces. "Bad kids remember? Lying's a gift we all seem to share."

The children who had gathered behind them laughed and moved away out of sight.

Dean shook his head with a small smile on his face. "You will make sure everyone stays until help arrives?" he asked.

"Yes. The children will do what we say," Michelle said.

Sam nodded. "We passed a pay phone on the way here just down the street. We'll stop and call for help from there."

"Will we see you again?" Lora asked.

Sam shook his head. "Probably not."

The little girl rushed up to him and pulled on his pant leg. Sam crouched down to her level.

"Will I see mommy and daddy again?" she whispered her lower lip trembling slightly. Real fearful tears slipped down her cheeks.

Sam smiled at her and gently wiped the tears away. "I'm sure you will see them really soon."

She sniffed and wrapped her arms around his neck. Sam hugged her back and she gave him a small smile before going back to Michelle. The older girl picked her up and held her close.

Bill came forward and helped Sam get Dean to his feet. Dean gasped in pain at the movement.

Sam wrapped Dean's arm around his shoulder and wrapped his arm around his brother's waist. Dean groaned softly at the added discomfort.

"Sam," Dean said through gritted teeth. "I don't think," he started to say.

"Yes you can Dean. We gotta get out of here and these kids need to go home. You can and you will," Sam said quietly to him.

Dean closed his eyes and nodded slumping a little against Sam. Bill helped them get up the stairs and then headed back to the rest of the children. The hidden door in the pantry was left open. Sam got his brother in the car as gently as he could and drove away slowly to make sure the neighbours didn't see them. He stopped to make the phone call to the police, wiped down the phone so no prints were left and got back into the car getting back to the motel as fast as he could.

He opened the motel room door and then went back to Dean. He opened the car door but Dean didn't move.

"Dean?" he said softly as he crouched by his brother. Dean didn't stir and it relieved Sam slightly because he knew that it would hurt his brother when he moved him. If he could stay asleep while he moved him and treated his wounds then it would go way easier on his older brother.

He reached into the car, pulled his brother into what looked like a bear hug and pulled back then straightened up careful not to hit Dean's head on the car. Dean's head rolled slightly on his shoulders before it came to rest on his chest. Sam held him up against the car so he could close the car door. Then he wrapped an arm around his brother's waist and wrapped Dean's arm around his shoulder and got Dean into the motel room and onto his bed.

He ran back out to the car, opened the trunk and weapons case. He dug down and pulled out the medical kit. He tossed it aside and dug further until he found the medical bag they used for real emergencies and hurried back into the motel room. He closed and bolted the door. Closing the drapes he turned on the lights and turned back to his brother. He stilled for the first time as he got the real first look at Dean's injuries.

He swallowed as he took in all the bruising, and blood that almost coated his face and hands. Sam put the bag down on the motel bed and sat by his brother on the bed.

"Dean I don't know if you can hear me in there, but we're back at the motel and I'm going to look after you. It's gonna hurt like hell, you and Dad were always better at patching up than me, but you're going to be fine, ok?" he said. He waited for a response but none was forthcoming.

He took a deep breath and pulled Dean up by his shoulders. He removed his jacket and two layers of shirts, making sure his amulet stayed on. Gently he lowered his brother back onto the bed then went into the washroom, washed his hands and got a damp cloth. He sat next to his brother again and gently washed his face and arms. He needed to be able to see the wounds to treat them. He dug in the bag and pulled out a needle and stitched up the worst of the cuts. He put bandages over the stitches and the wounds that still bled freely. He reached out to check his ribs when he saw his hands were shaking and coated in Dean's blood.

He went into the washroom and washed his hands again. He returned back to Dean and as gently as he could he felt around his ribs. Sam hoped that the ribs were just bruised badly instead of fractured or outright broken. Bruised ribs could bring their own issues, but fractured or broken ribs could mean a trip to the emergency room. He wouldn't hesitate to take Dean to emergency, no matter how much they hated hospitals. He just wasn't sure how he was going to explain all of the injuries.

He pulled his shaking hands away from the painful looking discoloured skin as Dean groaned in his sleep. Sam breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't feel anything broken or out of place and decided the ribs were just deeply bruised. He winced in sympathy knowing it was going to hurt like a bitch when his brother woke up.

"I'm almost done. Hold on just a little longer," Sam said as he pulled out bandages and cloth from the medical bag.

He pulled Dean back up to a sitting position and positioned pillows behind him for some support. He held most of his brother's weight as he slowly wrapped his chest in an Ace bandage. He rearranged the pillows again so that Dean would be sitting more than lying down to help relieve some of the pressure on his chest. Then he prepared a collar and cuff sling and secured Dean's wrist and arm close to his chest. Lastly he secured Dean's entire arm in a triangle sling to keep him from moving the arm and causing himself more pain.

He pulled the blankets up around his brother hoping that he'd found everything, doubting his own skills at triage as their Dad would have called it. None of them were doctors, but their father's military training had been thorough enough for John to teach the boys how to patch themselves up if the need ever arose, and it did a lot in this business. By the time Sam was ten he could dress a wound from cleaning it out to stitching it up to bandaging it and make the patient, usually Dean, comfortable. But that training seemed like a lifetime ago.

Sam remembered the first time Dean had broken his ribs. It should've been a simple salt and burn. Simple was a concept that their father had warned them about. Never underestimate your enemy was one of their golden rules. On that job they had seriously underestimated their opponents and Dean had paid for it.

The job was one ornery spirit haunting an abandoned old farm house. The old homestead was literally falling apart. A few more years and the building would collapse. Glass windows were broken with the broken pieces scattered inside and outside the building. The wrap around porch had fallen away from the house and some of the walls had holes in them. It was the kind of place where local teens went to party and dare each other to enter the spooky old building.

That lasted until teens started dying inside. The deaths bringing the Winchesters around to clean house.

Sam had done the research as usual and found that thirty fours years previous a young man had been killed in his home by Malikai Jones. After killing the boy Malikai committed suicide in the home. The Winchesters found the grave, salted and burned Malikai's old bones. When the fire was out they returned to the farm house to ensure things were ok. They weren't. Dean got pushed through rotting floorboards from the second story into the basement by another ghost. The remaining ghost was the boy Malikai had murdered.

Dean had been lucky to survive the fall with broken ribs, several lacerations and a sprained ankle. By the time they had returned to the motel they had been staying in Dean was pale, shaking violently and barely conscious.

After John settled his oldest on his bed he just looked over at Sam and said 'Here's your chance Son. Dress his wounds.' His older brother's condition had scared the crap out of him. Dean screamed when Sam had tried to put the bandage around his middle startling Sam so badly that he'd dropped the bandages and backed away from the bed. His Dad had spoken in a low comforting tone coaxing him back to the bed as he finished dressing Dean's wounds. The best he could do was try to hold back the tears while he held his brother's hand and prayed that he wouldn't die from his multiple injuries.

His bandage job now looked the same as his Dad's had been then. The only difference back then was Dad had pulled out a sedative for Dean, now they had none.

Sam sat heavily on his bed and watched his brother's chest rise and fall with each breath. He looked down at his clothes, there was a lot of sand on them as well as blood. There was no time for the luxury of a shower, he would have to watch Dean closely for a while.

He grabbed fresh clothes from his bag and went into the washroom. Stripped out of the dirty clothes and slipped on clean jeans, hesitating when it came to his shirt. He looked over at his arm and remembered that he had yet to clean it and bandage it. He took a moment to wash it then returned to the medical bag. He pulled out some anti-septic, most of which had been used up on his brother earlier, but there was just enough left for him. Taking a good look at the wound he debated momentarily about stitches and decided against it. He finished cleaning the wound then bandaged it.

He looked around the room and cleaned it up. He put the medical bag next to the door and finally collapsed on his own bed.

Sam watched over his brother for a short while. His heavily bandaged chest rose and fell evenly. When he felt that Dean would be ok for a moment alone he grabbed the ice bucket and hurried out of the room. He came back a moment later with a bucket full of ice. Watching Dean as he quietly closed the door he watched the bandages rise and fall evenly assuring himself that his brother was still alive.

Breathing a quiet sigh of relief he went into the washroom, put some ice in a shower cap and tied it off. Wrapping a towel around the hastily made ice pack he evened out the ice as best he could then gently laid the pack over the bandages where he remembered the worst of the bruising to be on his brothers chest.

He stepped back and sat on his bed watching his brother breathe in and out for a moment. Satisfied that despite his bet efforts his brother would survive the night, he settled back against the headboard of his bed and turned on the TV muting the sound as soon as it came on. He surfed for a few moments and after going through the few channels provided by the motel he settled on an old TV show.

As the episode came to an end he glanced over at Dean and watched the bandages barely rise. He quickly got off the bed and leaned over his brother. Taking away the cool water pack he could hear Dean's breath wheeze as air slowly made it's way in and out of his brother's battered body.

"Oh crap," Sam muttered and pulled Dean up into a sitting position taking most of his brother's weight against him as he removed the bandages from his chest as quickly as he could without disturbing the slings.

"Sammy?" Dean asked as he leaned up against his brother confusion clear in his voice.

"Yeah?" Sam replied still unwrapping.

"What happened?" Dean asked his voice sounding a little stronger.

"Sandman fractured your ribs," he said softly.

"And you wrapped me up like some freakin' mummy," Dean said gasping slightly.

"Yeah," Sam said.

Dean nodded against Sam's shoulder his breathing a little easier but still in short pain filled pants.

Sam was surprised a little that there were no smart ass remarks or sarcasm. Then again he had almost killed his brother tonight. Dean always did his best to hide most of the pain from him, but Sam figured this time he was just trying to deal with the pain as best he could.

He finished taking away the last of the bandages then helped Dean lay back against the propped up pillows. Dean's eyes were closed and Sam wasn't sure if he had passed out or not. He got up and took the melted ice pack with him. He emptied out the water and put the last of the ice cubes in the shower cap.

Leaving the tied up shower cap in the sink he brought up his hands. They were shaking, badly. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and images from the past week slammed through his head. He opened his eyes and gave himself a hard look in the mirror. Now was not the time to lose it. After all, how many times had Dean actually needed him and allowed him to help? Taking a deep breath, Sam did his best to shove away the panicky feelings, grabbed the ice and returned to the room.

The first thing that he noticed was that Dean's eyes were open and he was watching as Sam camefrom the bathroom to the bed. As gently as he could he placed the ice pack on the worst of the bruising and heard Dean take in a sharp breath.

"OK?" Sam asked his hands hovering just above the ice pack ready to take it off if it was too much.

"Yeah," Dean said in a controlled voice.

Sam sighed heavily and sat across form him watching the ice pack rise and fall like he had been doing most of the night.

Dean took in his brother's posture. Even in his current condition he couldn't help but notice that something was wrong. Sam was slouched on the bed and his hands were clamped tightly together in his lap. A sure sign that if he let go they'd be shaking badly. His brother was staring at him with glassy unfocussed eyes making him slightly uncomfortable.

"Dude take a picture," he said hoping for any kind of response but didn't get one. He was pretty sure that Sam had gottenpaler, if that were possible, heightening his concern.

"Sam? You ok?" Dean asked but didn't get a response. "Hey Sam? You with me? Did that bastard hurt you? Sammy? Come on. Talk to me man."

"I'm fine. You're the one who is hurt," Sam said quietly.

"Yeah but I'll make a full recovery. Seriously did you hit your head or something? Cause your hundred yard stare is creeping me out man," Dean said.

"I'm fine," Sam said.

"Well you look like shit little brother," Dean said hoping to break into the little world of denial that Sam had built up around himself. "You are not fine."

"Whatever," Sam huffed as he rolled his eyes and looked down at his shaking hands in his lap.

Dean looked over at the TV glad that the almost empty stare was gone. "Well look at that," he said.

Sam's head came up and he realized something on the TV had caught his brother's attention. The screen showed a reporter talking with the words breaking news flashing at the bottom of the screen.

"Dude the sound," Dean said.

They were reporting a dramatic rescue happening with children. Live coverage was showing children being re-united with their families on the lawn of a house. Sam couldn't help but smile as he saw Lora in the arms of her mom and turned up the volume.

A reporter's voice cut over the scenes of the families on the lawn. "Two young men allegedly followed a blue robed man into this home. They apparently fought the robed man and were critically injured. We have our reporter on the scene and go live to her now."

"So this man," a woman's voice said as the TV showed a microphone pointed at a young girl.

"Yeah this scary guy took us from our homes. I tried to fight him but he was really strong," Michelle said tearfully into the camera. "He dragged me into this room and made me breathe through this cloth. I don't remember anything after that until these two guys freed us."

"What was their condition?" the reporter asked.

Michelle looked down at the ground. "They were bleeding badly from different cuts. The bad man had a sword and had cut them up. There was so much blood," she said then turned and wrapped her hands around her mom.

"Man she's good," Dean mumbled.

The reporter turned into the camera. "Police have told us that aside from some very mild injuries none of the children had been harmed. Police will be releasing a sketch of the man who had taken the children as soon as one becomes available. He has been described as a white male, 30-35 years of age. He has white hair, white beard and several scars on his face. Police are warning families to be on the lookout for this dangerous man.

"Police are also looking for these two young heroes tonight that saved these children. They have stressed that they are not suspects in this case, but they would like to get their statements. They may have valuable information helpful to catch the man who took all of these children.

"If you two men are out there and watching tonight these families wanted me to pass on their heart felt gratitude to you both. You truly are heroes tonight.

"This is Sherry Richards, channel 5 news. Back to you in the newsroom."

"Kinda makes it all worth it, doesn't it," Sam said quietly as he muted the volume, but there was no response. Dean had fallen asleep or passed out during the report. Sam turned off the TV and grabbed the notebook. He began to surf the net for nothing in particular but visited some of his favourite pages. He surfed for a couple of hours watching over his brother at the same time.

Sam looked up as Dean mumbled in his sleep. He was shaking slightly and there was sweat forming on his forehead. From the look on his older brother's face it wasn't good. Sam went over and pulled the blankets up and around Dean.

"It's not real. It's just a dream. You're safe here," Sam said quietly.

Dean seemed to settle and Sam went back to the table ignoring the switch in their usual roles. He began to look to see if there was anything else paranormal happening in this town. After several hours of surfing he found nothing else out of the ordinary and he could barely keep his eyes open. Giving in he moved over to his bed and crawled under the covers falling asleep almost immediately.

To be continued


	5. Chapter 5

-1Dream-State

Chapter 5

By infinite shadow

Disclaimer: Just the same as the previous chapters. I don't own anything recognizable in the following story. Just wish I did.

Author's note: Ok here it is que the fan fare. It's finally done! Woohoo there goes the monkey off my back. LOL. Seriously thank you for your patience while I finished writing and all of the reviews I've gotten for this story. It truly is appreciated.

Thanks to my beta lynxlan for her never-ending patience.

Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.

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Later that morning Sam awoke to a funny sensation of being watched. He looked over to see his brother looking at him.

"Well look who finally woke up," Dean said with mock seriousness. "You could have left the remote in reaching distance. You know how much I hate silence."

Sam rubbed at his eyes and ignored the comments. "What time is it?"

"Nine thirty five," Dean said. "When did you crawl into bed?"

Sam shrugged. "Dunno. It was early, or late, or something."

Sam pushed himself into a sitting position and leaned back against the headboard even though he would have liked to lay in bed for a while. His body was definitely telling him thatyesterday was overdoing it and as usual he'd only gotten maybe three hours sleep. Definitely not enough rest in general or enough to help him heal.

He looked over as he heard Dean moving around. His older brother had his eyes closed and was slowly manoeuvring his legs to swing over the side of the bed. Beads of sweat were beginning to form on his brow with the effort and Sam could see his jaw muscles twitch from grinding his teeth together against the pain.

Sam quickly got out of bed ignoring his own pain and helped his brother get of his bed. Once Dean was standing Sam waited patiently beside him as his brother took a moment and breathed steeling himself against the pain before moving.

"Maybe I should take you to the hospital," Sam said quietly as he began to doubt his decision from the early morning hours to not take him to emergency. He wondered if Dean should be x-rayed to check for broken ribs and checked out just in case he'd missed something.

Dean's eyes opened quickly. "No Sammy. My ribs don't feel busted. I'll be ok. It just hurts a little."

Sam gave him a disbelieving look and Dean rolled his eyes at him.

"I'm ok Samantha. Now get off me," Dean said pulling his elbow out of Sam's grasp and shuffling into the bathroom.

Sam stood there for a moment then busied himself with getting dressed. He sat at the table and for a moment let his head sink into his hands. Taking a calming breath he reassured himself that it was all over except for the healing. He straightened up, booted up his laptop, opened MSN and began playing a game.

Almost an hour later Dean finally emerged from the bathroom with damp hair and wearing sweatpants.

Sam's attention left the computer and watched his brother gingerly sit down on the bed. He flashed back to earlier that week at the Forest Road Motel and realized how much worse his brother's bruising had gotten since then. The dark bruising now covered his side completely and had spread towards his back and into his chest.

Dean caught his shocked look and smiled slightly. "Well I guess I won't be picking up the ladies anytime soon."

"Dean," Sam said and stood up fully intending to talk his brother into going to the hospital to get checked out.

"I'm ok Sam. Really," Dean said softly then picked up the Ace bandage from the nightstand.

"No you aren't," Sam said as he walked over to his brother.

"Ok I'm not," Dean agreed looking away hating what he had to say next. "Could you help me with this?"

Sam took the bandage from him knowing how hard it was for his brother to ask for help.

"Before you say it I'm not going to some damn hospital," Dean said in his best no argument voice.

"But," Sam tried to protest but was cut off.

"Sammy I don't have the energy to argue. Could you just help me or do I have to wrap up my own chest?" Dean asked knowing that there was no way he could do it on his own and no way his little brother would let him try.

Sam looked down at the bandage in his hands then knelt down in front of his brother and carefully wrapped Dean's chest. When he was finished he started to back away but Dean caught his shaking hand before he could get away.

"Thanks Sammy. That feels a lot better," Dean said softly.

Sam nodded as he pulled away from his brother and restacked his brother's pillows on the bed. He held them in place until Dean was lying against them comfortably. Then he handed him the remote to the TV and went back to his notebook.

Dean surfed the TV for a while then glanced over at his brother.

"You're awfully quiet," Dean said and frowned when he didn't get a response. "Sammy?"

"I'm fine," Sam said.

"No you're not," Dean said. "Something's going on with you."

Sam looked up from the laptop. "Do you need something? Food, water, painkiller?" he asked.

"No," Dean said.

Sam's response was to look down at his screen and type something into the search page.

"Dude you can't ignore me," Dean said. "I'm the annoying one, remember?"

"I'm not ignoring you. Keep talking so I know you're still breathing," Sam said quietly focusing on what was on the screen in front of him.

Dean snorted. "Something's going on in that freaky head of yours. What is it?"

"Nothing," Sam said.

Dean was quiet for a moment as he watched Sam studiously focus on his computer and do his best to shut everything else out. He'd known last night through a pain filled haze that something was up and he realized that he had no idea what happened to his little brother while he was locked in the Sandman's realm. Or maybe it went back to when he was locked in Miranda's brutal dream world. Or maybe even a combination of both or just everything that he'd been through since rejoining the hunt.

Dean sighed quietly as he knew there was no way around it. He would have to get his brother to open up and it wasn't going to be easy or pretty. The walls had closed up tightly around his brother and he needed them to come down before he slowly drowned in whatever he was brooding about.

"Nothing? Fine? Classic angry Sammy signs," Dean said and had silence as an answer. "OK. Well I can't use tickle torture anymore but I still have ways of making you talk."

"Bite me," Sam said. He was frustrated and hurting. Dean always knew when he was feeling this way and tried to get what was wrong out of him. But right now he really just wanted to be left in peace.

"Aw come on now Sammy don't be that way. Just tell me what's on your mind. It'll be easier on both of us," Dean baited.

"Tell you what? Everything's fine," Sam said taking a deep breath and almost winced at his choice of words. Using the word fine again was an open invitation for Dean to dig further.

"Right. That's two fines, nothing and a bite me. Kiddo it's me, you can't lie to me. You never could cause I can always tell when something's wrong," Dean said. "It's an older brother thing."

"Look," Sam said hearing the frustration in his voice but not able to keep it in. "Everything's fine, ok? Let it be Dean I'm just tired."

Dean laughed quietly. "Well when was the last time you actually admitted that? Must be something paranormal happening here," Dean said then stopped before saying anything else. Sam's gaze finally met his over the top of the laptop. His face was pale and drawn but there was a storm of emotions rolling through his eyes.

The moment passed and Sam looked back at the computer screen. Dean hesitated for a moment then continued carefully.

"Look Sammy I know the last week has been pretty hellish for you," Dean started to say but got cut off.

"No," Sam cut in softly.

"What?" Dean said confused.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Talk. About. It," Sam ground out and found himself suddenly standing with his jacket in his hand. He hesitated for a moment then grabbed the keys to the Impala and left the motel room.

Sam got into the Impala slammed the car door and waited for his churning emotions to settle. He hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. Relishing the momentary painful release he hit the wheel twice more. A hellish week, it almost made him want to laugh. A hellish week was putting it mildly.

Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes, rested his hands on the steering wheel and leaned back to slouch against the seat back. After a moment he opened his eyes and saw that his hands were clenching the steering wheel tightly. He realized that his entire body was shaking and he wasn't sure if it was from lack of sleep, pain, the never ending slide show of the last weeks events or a combination of everything.

It didn't matter because he didn't have time to fall apart right now. He was supposed to be looking after his injured brother. Not Dean trying to look after him by going all Freudian on him.

He took more deep breaths and did his best to push his emotions away. When he felt calmer he debated about going back into the room. Looking down as his stomach growled loudly he realized that the last meal they'd eaten was breakfast the day before. Knowing that at some point he'd need to get food and pain meds for Dean he figured now was as good time as any. If Dean could get Freudian on him then he could stand to be alone for a bit and be ok.

0000000000000

The door closed quietly, the tiny click echoing in the room like a gun shot leaving Dean to stare at the closed door in surprise. His little brother had gotten far too good at building up his walls and before Dean knew it he'd pushed too far. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. Maybe he was a little rusty at this. He'd always read Sam better than that and was always able to stop before going over the line.

Dean heard the familiar rumble of his car start up and the sound fade away. Fear slammed through him for a second but not for himself. When his brother had left the room he wasn't in any state to be driving let alone going anywhere on his own.

He sighed heavily wincing at the strain it put on his chest. "Damnit Sammy why didn't you just talk to me instead of taking off."

Dean knew his little brother would be fine he just needed to let off a little steam and calm down. But if Sam returned his baby with any damage on her there'd be hell to pay regardless of his current condition.

He busied himself with watching TV unable to stop himself from glancing at the clock every few minutes. When Sam had been gone a little over an hour he struggled to his feet and shuffled to the table. Grabbing his cell phone he punched in Sam's number. When a ring tone he was very familiar with sounded from the floor he swore out loud and made his way to the other side of the table. There on the floor was Sam's cell phone.

Dean closed up his phone and the ringing stopped. "Come on little brother. Where are you," Dean said softly. Then he shuffled back to his bed and laid back against the pillows.

A short time later he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the familiar purr of his baby in front of the motel room. Looking over from the TV he watched Sam come into the room with a greasy fast food bag and a six pack of beer.

"You ok?" Dean askedseriously as Sam slowly sat on the bed next to him looking towards the floor.

Sam reached into the bag and handed his brother a burger. "No, not really," he said quietly putting the half full greasy bag on the nightstand. He suddenly had no appetite.

"Ready to talk about it, or do you need another spin in my baby," Dean asked also putting his food aside.

"Can you handle a chick flick moment while you're immobile?" Sam asked still not looking at his brother.

"Hey, it's the only way," Dean said smiling slightly.

Sam nodded and just sat there for a moment still staring at the floor.

Dean reached out and touched Sam's arm, feeling the tremors running through the younger man's body. "Come on Sammy. Just tell me. It'll be ok."

Sam took a deep breath and nodded. He told Dean almost everything that happened when he couldn't wake up, the spirit in Jess' image and the various dreamscapes he had been forced to endure. He even told him about a couple of things the Sandman had showed him just before the fight had begun. By the time he was done he was shaking badly and a lone tear slipped down his cheek.

"Sam?" Dean said. "Hey look at me."

Sam finally lifted his head so he could look at his brother. It tore at Dean's heart to see all the pain that was consuming his little brother.

"You know that Dad and I don't, and couldn't ever, hate you, right?" Dean asked. "What that bitch showed you wasn't real."

Sam shook his head. "I'm the reason Mom died. I'm the reason Jess died. You and Dad should hate me for taking Mom away from you, a wife away from Dad and I hate myself for killing Jess," Sam whispered his confession then looked away as tears began to fall.

"Sam listen to me. None of those deaths were your fault. Dude look at me," Dean said but didn't get a response from Sam who was drowning in his pain.

The older hunter grimaced. He had only one card left to play and it would hurt like hell, but it would be worth it. Taking a shallow breath he forced himself to cough once or twice. He wheezed and tried to curl at the pain.

Sam's head flew up, his own pain pushed aside to help his brother. He helped Dean sit up and lean forward.

"Dean?" he said worriedly.

The intense pain shot out from his side and seemed to encircle his entire chest. Sam moved in closer letting his brother rest against him. The coughing stopped and eventually the shaking subsided. Sam began to pull back but Dean held onto his shirt keeping him close.

"Dean?" Sam asked.

Dean drew a few more shallow breaths. "Don't let go Sammy. Finish telling me," he said around the pain.

"No," Sam said. "It's ok. Maybe we should get you checked out. Really Dean that sounded really bad."

"Not happening Sammy I won't let you drag me to some hospital. Now don't argue with me I don't have the energy. Just tell me," he wheezed.

He'd told Dean almost everything but this he hadn't wanted to say aloud. Superhero brothers weren't supposed to be killed. They were supposed to go on forever strong and ready to swoop in just in the nick of time to save the day. Dean had always been his superhero and countless times his brother had done just that - saved his life in the nick of time. Sam didn't want death to figure into the picture and saying the words made it seem possible that it could happen.

Sam closed his eyes and gave in. "I saw you die," he whispered.

"What?" Dean said not sure he'd heard correctly.

"I saw you die," Sam said shaking slightly. "Couple of times. I can't help thinking what if they're not just nightmares. What if they're visions like Jess? What if I can't stop it and I lose you too?"

"Help me up," Dean said. He wanted to be looking at Sam when he gave him the answer. Barely biting back the string of curses he wanted to scream, Sam helped him lean back against the pillows.

"Should I get more ice or pain killers?" Sam asked.

Dean shook his head. "I can't promise you something I know I won't be able to do. I've always been straight with you Sam. I can't promise you that I won't die," he said simply.

Sam paled and looked away. He'd said the words out loud and his brother had affirmed the vision. He wasn't stupid and he knew they weren't invincible. Death went along with the job, but acknowledging that fact was something else all together.

"I can promise you that I don't plan on going anywhere for a long time," Dean continued with as much resolve as he could. "I will always be here for you Sammy, ok?"

Sam nodded and looked back at his brother.

"Now if you're done with your chick flick moment, I'll have a beer and some pain killers. The good stuff this time, not the gentle stuff."

Sam snorted. "The beer's not for you, it's for me."

"Come on man, you're too much of a lightweight to really enjoy them," Dean wheedled. "Just one? It'll help knock me out."

"Nope. I got you these instead," Sam said pulling out a small bag out of his pocket. "T3's."

"Ok now I'm not going to ask how you got these," Dean said taking the bag and pulling out the bottle. He looked up sharply at his younger brother. "Sam this is a full behind the counter kind of bottle. How did you get these?"

Sam blushed slightly. "Actually that's not a full behind the counter kind of bottle. Those are much bigger than that. And I thought you said you weren't going to ask me that."

"Tough. Tell me," Dean said as he opened the bottle and dry swallowed two pills.

Sam shrugged. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve," he said quietly.

Dean pinned him with a stare and Sam relented.

"I uh made up some prescription papers with the name of a doctor and the number of a voicemail box with the proper greeting. I waited for the message to come through and called the pharmacy back to confirm the prescription. Look at the name on the bottle," Sam said.

Dean turned the bottle in his hand. The label read Ned Chester.

"It's not real original cause I totally blanked on the name of some seventies musician that you made me memorize while growing up but the good news is that even though Ned Chester is having a difficult time with the aftermath of the car accident he had the T3's should give him some relief," Sam said and then explained further at his brother's confused expression. "Well I had to tell the cute pharmacist something when she asked."

"She thought you were the victim?" Dean asked.

"Nope. My much older brother Ned was ordered to bed rest when he was released from the hospital," Sam smiled.

"Not bad Sammy, not bad at all," Dean said with a slight smile. "Looks like hanging out with me has taught you a few tricks. Nice job on the fake doctor and prescription though. Man I wish I had thought of that. Now get me a beer help me swallow those pills I just took."

"Tell you what," Sam said with half a grin. "If you can get up and take a beer from the table you can have it."

"Bitch," Dean said then started to get up and suddenly changed his mind. He could wait for the T3's to kick in before trying to make it anywhere.

Sam just smiled and got his brother a glass of water. He felt the darkness in him from his nightmares lift just a little at the familiar word of endearment from his older brother.

For the first time since they'd stopped at the Forest Road Motel Sam felt somewhat safe. Nothing was haunting them, they'd battled the Sandman and were victorious. In a couple of weeks his brother would be healed and they'd be onto their next job. But for now they'd be stuck here while Dean healed. If he tried hard enough maybe he could make it feel like a vacation.

Sam watched Dean out of the corner of his eye surfing channels with one arm protectively laying across his chest. He couldn't help but feel lucky to have Dean as his overprotective big brother. As long as they had each other they'd figure out his wierdo visions, and whatever else came at them, as they went.

Sam opened a beer and took a long drink of it before settling down on his bed. Regardless of what happened down the road Sam knew with Dean here maybe things weren't so bad. He smiled slightly. Not so bad he could deal with.

The End


End file.
